Free online translator for converting English names to Japanese (日本語)
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 katakana represents sounds in syllables, not individual letters. English names are converted to fit Japanese phonetics, which sometimes means sounds are added or changed.
Here are examples of common English names transliterated to Japanese:
Explore your name in other writing systems:
Use our katakana translator above. Foreign names in Japanese are always written in katakana script. Type your name in English and it will convert to the standard Japanese katakana representation.
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.
No, foreign names are exclusively written in katakana in Japanese. Japanese people use kanji for their names, but non-Japanese names conventionally use katakana. You wouldn't use hiragana or make up kanji for a foreign name.
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.