Girls' Generation

Girls' Generation (Hangul: 소녀시대; Hanja: 少女時代) is a South Korean nine-member girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. The members include (in order of official announcement) Yoona, Tiffany, Yuri, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Seohyun, Taeyeon (the leader), Jessica, and Sunny. International Girls' Generation fans usually refer to the group as SNSD, the acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyeo Shi Dae. Many of the members had already pursued an entertainment career before Girls' Generation's debut through acting, DJ-ing, and modeling. Their official fanclub is known as S♡NE (소원) also one of the titles of a song from their first album. Girls' Generation sold 100,000 copies of their album in South Korea, being the first girl group to do so since 2002.

Pre-debut

The members were professionally trained primarily in singing and dancing, but some members were also selected to be trained in acting and modeling. Many of the members already had madenames for themselves in the Korean entertainment industry through their participation in magazine ads, television commercials, and small television appearances. Before the official release of the group name, Girls' Generation, it was rumored that the group would be named "Super Girls" after their so-called counterpart, Super Junior