Is Nayeon's surname Im or Lim?

The worst name is You Hee-yeol from Sketchbook. I've seen his name written in like 4 different ways.

Quote from rainbowblink224

I think it's a little deeper than that on what logically works but any language translation to English can be a bit difficult. But I also agree with you.

All languages has to do some fitting.

My language use both cyrilic and latin alphabets and we transliterate all the names phonetically. Examples (I'm lazy to switch to cyrilics, I'm writing only in latin):

English names: charlotte is spelled as šarlot (š is english sh), rose as rouz, james as džejms (dž is obviously j lol)

Korean (ofc hangul spelling): yoongi - jungi (y is j), namjoon - namdžun

English has to transliterate cyrillics, hangul and other alphabets. Spelling of tchaikovsky is sending me :D

Russian spelling of Виктория should be spelled as Viktoriya but english language chose the version that's ogranic to them, Victoria, even tho the second best is viktoria.

In my also slavic language it's spelled as viktorija, serbian ja= russian я, and english romanization is the same.

Long story short, there are rules but some people change it to fit english language.

I call her Nayeon unnie

poor nayeon

Im nayeon look like narcissitic but she deserve better

Quote from rainbowblink224

Everyone in Korean refers to her as Lim Nayeon, even herself.

But when it is translated into English, it comes out as Im Nayeon...

So does it have to do with the Korean alphabet or something? I think I have a little ideas but I'm not for sure for real...

DISCLAIMER: IF I HAVE MADE ANY MISTAKES, I'M REALLY SORRY. I DON'T SPEAK KOREAN, IT'S JUST THAT I HAVE A VAGUE IDEA OF HOW THE SCRIPT WORKS, AND I HAVE DONE A BIT OD RESEARCH ON THE MATTER.

As others have said, technically it's pronounced (and written!) as Im, but some romanizations write it as Lim, and when speaking English, some people say Lim. The surname was originally Lim (the Hanja still writes it as Lim), but due to the laws of the Korean language, to make it easier for Koreans to pronounce, the 'L' was dropped. The same thing applies to the surname Lee, for Koreans. In this interview, Taemin clearly introduces himself as Ee Taemin, not Lee Taemin.

For English speakers, adding an 'L' to the beginning of the name definitely makes it easier to pronounce, especially since we follow the order of given name-surname, unlike Koreans, who do the opposite. So saying Nayeon Im, Taemin Ee, or Mark Ee is difficult, but Nayeon Lim, Taemin Lee, and Mark Lee is easy.

About the multiple romanizations - there are many ways to romanize a language that isn't originally in the Roman script. I've seen Jeongyeon romanized as Jungyun, Jeonghan romanized as Junghan. Kimbap as Gimbap. This is because of the Korean alphabet, really.

About Jeonghan and Jeongyeon - their names written in the Hangul script are 정한 (Jeonghan) and 정연 (Jeongyeon). You have two syllables in each name = 정 (Jeong) + 한 (Han); 정 (Jeong) + 연 (Yeon). In the syllable 정, like many Korean syllables, you have a first consonant ㅈ (usually romanized as 'j'), vowelㅓ(usually romanized as 'eo'), and last consonant ㅇ (romanized as 'ng'). This romanization is based on the sounds each letter makes. Korean is a very phonetic language, each letter makes its own unique sound, and there's nothing weird going on unlike English, where single letters have multiple sounds. But what is this 'eo' sound, really? It kinda sounds like the 'u' in 'sun' but with a bit of 'o' mixed in. So, kinda makes sense to romanize it as 'u', but makes even more sense to romanize it as 'eo', because you don't want it to be mixed up with an 'oo' (as in 'food', or Korean letter ㅜ) sound, nor an 'eu' (as in, the Korean letter 'ㅡ') sound. But then, why is Jungkook's name not romanized as Jeongkook, when his name in Hangul is 정국, with the first syllable being 정, same as 정한 (Jeonghan) and 정연 (Jeongyeon)? Because there is no right or wrong way to romanize a language! My native language is romanized soo many ways, omfg, it confuses me too.

About 'kimbap' being romanized as 'gimbap', well, this is because the Korean letter ㄱ is BOTH a K and a G. In hangul, the dish is written as 김밥. Again, two syllables, first syllable is consonant ㄱ (g/k) + vowel ㅣ(i) + consonant ㅁ (m). At the beginning of a syllable, its sound is kinda halfway between g and k, while at the end of a syllable, it's always a K. Now, to go back to Jungkook's name, it's 정국. The last syllable is 국. consonant ㄱ (g/k) + vowel ㅜ (oo) + consonant ㄱ (at the end, it's always a k). What do you get? Either Kook, or Gook. This is why Jungkook can also be romanized as Jeonggook. To make matters more confusing, hangul also has a letter ㅋ, which is only K, not G. It has a much harder sound than ㄱ. SHINee's Key's stage name in Hangul is written as 키 = consonant ㅋ (k) + vowelㅣ(i). His real name Kim Kibum, however, is written as 김기범. Notice how 김 has ㄱ is its first consonant, as does 기. So is his name Kim Kibum or Gim Gibum? Moreover, the last syllable, 범, is ㅂ (b) + ㅓ(eo) + ㅁ (m). So is it really Gim Gibeom? No one really knows. Go with the romanization you feel confortable with.

If you made it to the end, props to you! Here are gifs of all the idols mentioned!

it's all abt korean romanisation tbh like i know this lim surname exist in different countries also (actually im a lim too but im chinese, in chinese it's lin but in english it changes to lim, don't ask me why, idk also)

anyway back to the topic, lim in korean is written as 임 and it's actually pronounced as 'yim', originally there's no l in it but i guess since y-im is a bit hard to say it in english, lim, a more common surname is used in english, another important thing to take note is that although there are many countries with the lim surname, it all originates differently, and i doubt they're all related

basically, if its pronounced in korean, its 'yim nayeon' but writeen in english its 'lim nayeon'