Lily
リリー
Rirī
How It Is Said
- リri
- リri
- ーi
Rirī: three 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 no l. It uses its one sound between l and r, a light tap of the tongue, written ラ リ ル レ ロ: リ (ri).
- The bar ー makes the vowel before it long, one beat more: リー (rī).
The lily is 百合 (yuri) in Japanese, and Yuri is a Japanese girl's name.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type riri- (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 リリー 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
