Free online translator for converting English names to Japanese (日本語)
Want to change a letter or write more? Type it on the Japanese keyboard.
Japanese uses three writing systems: hiragana, katakana, and kanji. Foreign names are written in katakana (カタカナ), which is specifically designed for foreign words and names.
Japanese uses three scripts together, and foreign names go in a specific one. Hiragana writes native grammatical elements, kanji writes Chinese-derived roots and most Japanese names, and katakana writes foreign loanwords and foreign names. A Western name written in katakana is immediately identifiable as foreign to any Japanese reader — the script itself signals it, before the sounds are even read.
This makes Japanese unusually straightforward compared with Chinese. There is no character-selection problem and no accidental meaning, because katakana is purely phonetic. Each katakana sign is a syllable, almost always a consonant plus a vowel, and the name is simply spelled out in those syllables.
People often ask for their name in kanji instead, and it is worth understanding the trade-off. Kanji chosen for sound alone produces a name that a Japanese reader will find strange, because kanji carry meaning and native Japanese names follow recognisable patterns. It is done — historically for names of long-standing foreign residents, and decoratively for tattoos — but katakana is what actual practice uses, and it is what appears on Japanese documents, business cards and news reports.
Japanese katakana represents sounds in syllables, not individual letters. English names are converted to fit Japanese phonetics, which sometimes means sounds are added or changed.
Japanese syllable structure permits no consonant clusters and allows only n as a standalone final consonant. Every other consonant must be followed by a vowel, so clusters are broken up by inserting u or o. Smith becomes スミス, three syllables. The name Christopher gains several. This expansion is systematic rather than arbitrary, and it is why Japanese renderings sound longer than the original.
Several English sounds have no Japanese equivalent. There is no l, which merges with r into the same ラ行 syllables, so Laura and Rora are written identically. There is no v, conventionally written with a special ヴ but often simplified to b. There is no th, which becomes s or z. Long vowels are marked with a dash, ー, and getting the vowel length right matters, because it is phonemic in Japanese.
Here are examples of common English names transliterated to Japanese:
Explore your name in other writing systems:
Type it in the box above. You get the katakana spelling first, because katakana is how Japanese writes foreign names, then the same name in hiragana, its romaji reading, and up to three kanji spellings. The katakana is the one to use on anything official.
Japanese has a limited set of syllables compared to English. Sounds that don't exist in Japanese are approximated with the closest match. For example, 'L' becomes 'R', and consonant endings get vowel sounds added.
You can, and the tool shows both, but katakana is the standard for a foreign name. Hiragana writes the same sounds and looks softer, so it suits a learner or an informal card. Kanji chosen for their sound (ateji) is a style, not a spelling: Japanese readers will see the meanings first, and documents use katakana.
Yes, there are standard katakana conventions for foreign names. Famous people and places have established katakana spellings that everyone uses. Our tool follows these official standards.
Yes! Japanese people are very familiar with reading foreign names in katakana. They'll recognize your name even if it sounds slightly different due to Japanese phonetic limitations.
Katakana is correct and is what Japanese practice actually uses for foreign names. Kanji chosen for sound alone reads as strange to Japanese speakers because the characters carry meaning.
Japanese has a single liquid consonant covering both, so Laura and Rora are written identically in katakana. There is no way to distinguish them.
The chōonpu, ー, marks a long vowel. Vowel length is phonemic in Japanese, so it changes the pronunciation rather than being decorative.
Yes, as ateji: kanji chosen for their readings rather than their meaning, the way Japanese wrote foreign names before katakana took over. Under the result you may see up to three kanji spellings, each with a gloss for every character, so Maria can be 真里愛 (true, village, love) and Emma 恵真 (blessing, true). The readings and glosses come from KANJIDIC2 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), and the characters are ranked by how often Japanese given names on Wikidata read them that way at that place in the name. A kanji spelling appears only when every syllable has a reading; a name with a sound no kanji carries, such as the ザ of Elizabeth or the ジョン of John, stays in katakana. Kanji ateji is a choice, not a rule: on official documents a foreign name is written in katakana.