Jan
ヤン
Yan
How It Is Said
- ヤya
- ンn
Yan: two beats, each about the same length. Japanese has no strong stress, so the name is said evenly, beat by beat.
By Language
| Language | Katakana | Rōmaji | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| German | ヤン | Yan | |
| Dutch | ヤン | Yan |
What Happens to the Sounds
- In German, j is said like the y of yes, so it is written ヤ (ya).
- ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
Jan Joosten, the Dutch navigator who reached Japan with William Adams in 1600, gave his name to Yaesu in Tokyo, from his Japanese name 耶楊子 (Yayōsu).
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type yann (nn gives ン), then press F7 on Windows or Control+K on a Mac to turn it into katakana. On a phone, type the same letters with the Japanese keyboard and choose ヤン among the suggestions.
The Same Name in Other Languages
Why Katakana
In Japan, names from abroad are written in katakana, the script for words from other languages. Kanji versions of Western names are mostly invented, and a Japanese reader often sees odd meanings in them; the katakana is what a Japanese person would really write. More on katakana and names
