Stephen
スティーブン
Sutībun
Also written スティーヴン.
How It Is Said
- スsu
- ティti
- ーi
- ブbu
- ンn
Sutībun: five 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 | スティーブン | Sutībun | the usual form |
| スティーヴン | Sutīvun | also in use |
What Happens to the Sounds
- The bar ー makes the vowel before it long, one beat more: ティー (tī).
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ティ (ti).
- ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
Saint Stephen is ステファノ in the Japanese Bible of 1987, and ステパノ in older translations.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type suthi-bunn (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 スティーブン 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
