Use a title or honorific, not a first name

Address anyone older or senior to you by their title, role, or an honorific suffix, not their first name, unless they've explicitly invited you to.

Korea SocialstrictUpdated September 2, 2026

Default to a title, role, or relational term instead of a first name: teacher (seonsaengnim), a job title plus -nim, or an age/relationship term like sunbae (senior), hyung/oppa/unnie/noona depending on your and their gender and relative age. In formal or business settings, last name plus title is the safe default.

Wait for the other person to explicitly invite first-name use before switching to it, even if you’re on friendly terms — they’ll usually say so directly (“just call me [name]”) when they’re comfortable with it.

This applies even to people just slightly older than you — a one-year age gap in Korea is enough to set the senior-junior dynamic and the naming convention that comes with it.
Peers your own age or younger can go by first name freely — the caution is specifically about anyone senior in age or rank, not a blanket rule for every interaction.

Why it matters

Korean carries built-in honorific speech levels (jondaetmal) and a naming system where using someone's bare first name signals either deep intimacy or a real breach of hierarchy, there's no neutral "everyone's on a first-name basis" register the way there is in English. Titles (teacher, manager, older brother/sister — sunbae, hyung, unnie, depending on relationship) stand in for the name itself in daily address, even among people who know each other well. Skipping this with someone senior reads as presumptuous even when it's a genuine mistake rather than disrespect.

Use a title or honorific, not a first name

Why it matters

More from Korea

Bow and use two hands with seniors

Place rice to the left of soup

Avoid sets of four, knives, and clocks

More Social rules

Let them lead the cheek kiss, and match the local count

Never criticize someone in front of others

Let the host toast first, and clink lower