Xavier
グザヴィエ
Guzavie
Also written グザビエ.
How It Is Said
- グgu
- ザza
- ヴィvi
- エe
Guzavie: 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| French | グザヴィエ | Guzavie | the usual form |
| グザビエ | Guzabie | also in use |
What Happens to the Sounds
- At the end of a French name, -er is said é: エ (e).
- Japanese has no v. It is written ヴ (vu) and its row, ヴァ ヴィ ヴェ ヴォ, or more simply with the b row, バ ビ ブ ベ ボ: you will see both, グザヴィエ and グザビエ.
- A small kana joins the one before it into one beat: ヴィ (vi).
Saint Francis Xavier, who reached Japan in 1549, is ザビエル (Zabieru) in every Japanese history book; the French name is グザヴィエ.
To Type It
On a computer with Japanese input switched on, type guzavie, 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 グザヴィエ 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
