This paper reviews the Korean vernacular names of 35 cetacean species found in Korean waters and mentioned in 19 references, including laws, high school textbooks, and books on whales. The vernacular names of 16 species were identical in all sources examined. Some names have their origins in old Korean books, while others have recently entered public awareness through movies, TV programs, and the mass media; some species are frequently studied by researchers. Given the nature of vernacular names, that is, names used by people who live in sympatry with the animals, priority was not given high consideration in this paper. Instead, we carefully investigated the origin, publicity, and rationale of the Korean common names for the 35 species. All of these Korean names are also listed in "The World Cetacea Database (http://www.marinespecies.org/cetacea/)," which contains the most accurate cetacean systematic information on the Web.