A Korean name whose meaning depends on the hanja used, often involving brightness, intelligence, or greatness.
Minho is a Korean given name most commonly written with the hanja characters 民浩 (people + vast/great) or 敏浩 (quick/clever + vast), though numerous combinations exist depending on the family's chosen characters. Korean naming culture places great emphasis on the selection of hanja, each pairing carrying its own constellation of aspirations—parents might choose characters invoking intellectual brilliance, moral uprightness, or expansive vitality. The name Minho has historically been most popular among male children in Korea, and its pleasant two-syllable structure, ending in the open vowel *ho*, gives it a warm, approachable sound.
In the twentieth century, Minho gained international visibility through the Korean Wave—the global spread of Korean pop culture, cinema, and television that accelerated dramatically in the 2000s and 2010s. Choi Min-ho, a member of the Korean pop group SHINee who debuted in 2008, brought the name to the attention of fans across Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Simultaneously, the dystopian film series *The Maze Runner* (2014–2018) featured a heroic Korean-American character named Minho, played by Ki Hong Lee, introducing the name to millions of Western viewers who might otherwise have encountered it only through K-pop fandom.
This dual pathway—traditional Korean heritage and contemporary pop culture—has given Minho a distinctive profile among parents of Korean descent and among K-pop-influenced naming enthusiasts internationally. Within Korea, the name remains solidly traditional while carrying no sense of datedness. Internationally, it has the quality of a name that feels both meaningfully specific and universally accessible—easy to pronounce, pleasant in sound, and carrying a cultural story worth telling.