Korean brand names aren’t just labels - they’re tiny linguistic puzzles. Many rely on puns, playful sounds, or cultural references that might fly under the radar for non-Korean speakers. Here’s a breakdown of some of the funniest and most clever examples.
Food and Drink: The Tastiest Puns
Korean food brands love a good double meaning. Take Bibigo, the popular dumpling and sauce brand. The name comes from bibim (mixed) and go (to go), but it also sounds like bibigo, a cute way to say ‘delicious’ in Korean.
Bibigo
/pi.bi.ɡo/Then there’s Sulbing, a dessert café chain. Sul means ‘alcohol’ and bing is ‘ice’ - so the name cheekily suggests that their shaved ice desserts are as addictive as alcohol.
Tech and Apps: When Names Get Meta
Korea’s tech scene is full of witty naming choices. Kakao, the messaging app giant, sounds like kakao (cocoa), but it’s also a play on gayo, the Korean word for ‘song’ - fitting for a company that started as a music platform.
Another gem is Naver, Korea’s top search engine. The name blends ‘navigate’ and ‘ver’ (short for ‘version’), but Koreans often joke it sounds like nae-beo - ‘my stomach’ - making it the ‘search engine that knows you inside out’.
Beauty Brands: The Art of Saying Nothing
Korean beauty brands excel at using nonsensical but catchy names. Innisfree sounds like a mystical forest, but it’s actually a mashup of ‘innocence’ and ‘free’ - with no direct Korean meaning. Meanwhile, Etude House borrows from the French word for ‘study’, implying makeup is an art to be practised.
- Innisfree: No Korean meaning, just vibes.
- Etude House: Because makeup is ‘studying’ beauty.
- Missha: Short for ‘Miss Korea’, but also sounds like ‘mi-sa’ (beautiful company).
Why This Matters for Korean Learners
Brand names are a goldmine for understanding Korean wordplay and cultural references. If you’re learning the language, spotting these quirks can help you grasp how Koreans play with sounds and meanings. For more on Korean linguistic quirks, check out our guide to Korean onomatopoeia or the differences between Seoul and Jeju dialects.
