Jennifer
ジェニファー
Jenifā
Also written ジェニファ.
How It Is Said
- ジェje
- ニni
- ファfa
- ーa
Jenifā: four 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | ジェニファー | Jenifā | the usual form |
| ジェニファ | Jenifa | also in use |
What Happens to the Sounds
- The double nn is one sound in English, so katakana writes it once: ジェニファー.
- The English ending -er is written ファー (fā): Japanese follows the British way of saying it, with no r.
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ジェ (je).
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type jenifa- (the - key gives the bar ー), 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 ジェニファー among the suggestions.
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
