Lawrence
ローレンス
Rōrensu
How It Is Said
- ロro
- ーo
- レre
- ンn
- スsu
Rōrensu: five beats, each about the same length. Japanese has no strong stress, so the name is said evenly, beat by beat.
What Happens to the Sounds
- Japanese has one sound where English has two, l and r: a light tap of the tongue, written ラ リ ル レ ロ. So the l and the r of Lawrence sound alike: ロ (ro), レ (re).
- The bar ー makes the vowel before it long, one beat more: ロー (rō).
- ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type ro-rennsu (the - key gives the bar ー and 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 ローレンス 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
