Your Name in Japanese

How Katakana Writes Names from Abroad

Japanese uses three scripts together. Kanji carry meaning, hiragana write the grammar, and katakana write words and names that come from other languages: coffee is コーヒー, Germany is ドイツ, and a name from abroad is written in katakana too.

Each katakana stands for one beat of sound, most often a consonant with its vowel: カ ka, ミ mi, ル ru. A name is written by its sound, so one spelling can become different katakana in different languages: Julia is ジュリア in English, ユリア in German and フリア in Spanish. That is why the page asks for the language of your name.

The Sounds Japanese Does Not Have

Some sounds of European languages have no exact match in Japanese. Katakana uses the nearest, by long-agreed conventions; a Japanese reader knows that the ル in マイケル stands for an l.

Long Vowels, Small Kana and ン

• The bar ー makes the vowel before it long, one beat more: ルーカス (Rūkasu) for Lucas.
• A small ャ ュ ョ or ァ ィ ゥ ェ ォ joins the kana before it into one beat: ジュ (ju), ファ (fa).
• A small ッ is a short pause that doubles the next consonant: オットー (Ottō) for Otto.
• ン is a humming n, and it counts as a beat of its own.
• A middle dot ・ separates a first name from a last name: マイケル・スミス. The double hyphen ＝ joins a hyphenated name: アンヌ＝マリー.
• Every beat takes about the same time. Japanese has no strong stress as English and German do, so a name in katakana is said evenly.

Long Names on a Seal

Most seals in Japan carry a single name: the family name on the seal for every day, often the given name on a bank seal. Only the registered seal, which is cut larger, carries the full name. A long name in katakana is set in three columns, or written across an oval seal, as seal makers in Japan do; the long mark ー and the small kana each take a place of their own. If you need a seal for an office in Japan, ask there which form of your name it should carry.

Why Not Kanji?

Japanese names are written in kanji, chosen for their sound and their meaning. Kanji versions of Western names exist, but they are mostly invented: characters picked for their sound, which a Japanese reader often reads as an odd phrase. On a ticket, an envelope or a name tag in Japan, a name from abroad is written in katakana. A few names are Japanese names as well (Naomi, Ken, Erika, Anna); those can be written in kanji as Japanese names, and even so, a Naomi from abroad is written ナオミ.

How We Chose

For the common names of eleven languages we keep a table of the forms used in Japan, the usual one first. Other forms are shown as well, because more than one is often in use: ヴィクトリア and ビクトリア are both correct. For a name that is not in the table, the page works the katakana out from the spelling, by the rules of the language you choose, and marks it “estimated”. If your name is already written in katakana on a Japanese document, keep that spelling. When we had to choose, we chose the form someone in Japan would use to call you.