The hangul, or Korean characters, for my persona name is 성명수 – Seong Myeong Su. Each group or block represents one syllable, so the name is only three syllables total. Korean names are surname first and given name second. The surname is typically one syllable and the given name is typically two syllables, but it can be one syllable or more than two syllables.
성 is pronounced somewhere between “song” and “sung.”
명 is pronounced kinda like “myoung,” like young with the letter m in front.
수 is pronounced “soo,” like the beginning of “soup.”
(Here’s a link that will pronounce it for you, just click the speaker icon! https://papago.naver.com/?sk=auto&tk=en&st=%EC%84%B1%EB%AA%85%EC%88%98 )
Seong is the surname and Myeong Su is the given name.
There are two main systems for the romanization of Korean, McCune–Reischauer and Revised Romanization. I prefer Revised Romanization because it’s easier to type out and recognizable as Korean, but the spellings are not always accurate to how it’s pronounced. So I choose to spell my name as Seong Myeong Su but in McCune–Reischauer, it would be spelled Sŏng Myŏng Su. Someone may also choose spell it as Sung Myung Soo. It’s all the same name! Haha.
There’s a list of titles that the SCA Korea group uses to match the titles in the SCA, put together by Richard. The closest equivalent for The Honorable Lady is Daegam – 대감 – pronounced like “deh-gahm.” It is both the title and the form of address. An example of a title with a different form of address would be the title Baron vs. calling someone Your Excellency in conversation. It would be attached to the end of the whole name or just the last name. Korean culture focuses on hierarchy and titles pretty heavily, so it’s considered rude to not use someone’s title.
All of this is to say, if you want to address/announce me in a more appropriate way for my persona, you can call me:
Seong Daegam
Seong Myeong Su Daegam
And if you’re just talking to me or want my attention, you can just say “Daegam.”
If you want to learn more about Korean stuff in the SCA or see the big spreadsheet of Korean titles that Richard put together, check out the SCA Korea group!
