Free online translator for converting English names to Urdu (اردو)
Urdu uses a modified Perso-Arabic script called Nastaliq, known for its flowing calligraphic style. It's the national language of Pakistan and widely spoken in India.
Urdu is written in the Nastaliq style, and that single fact separates it from every other Arabic-script language in practical terms. Where Arabic and Persian are typically set in the horizontal Naskh style, Nastaliq cascades diagonally: each word steps down from right to left, so a line of Urdu has a sloping, calligraphic texture rather than sitting flat on a baseline. It descends from Persian chancery calligraphy and remains the expected form for Urdu in Pakistan and India.
This creates a genuine technical problem. Nastaliq requires far more contextual letterform variation than Naskh — a single letter can take dozens of shapes depending on what surrounds it — so proper Urdu rendering demands a specialised font such as Noto Nastaliq Urdu or the older InPage typesetting system. Systems without one fall back to Naskh, which is readable but looks to an Urdu speaker roughly the way a serif document set entirely in a monospace font looks to an English reader.
Urdu extends the Persian alphabet further, adding retroflex consonants ٹ, ڈ and ڑ for sounds inherited from the Indic substrate, along with aspirated forms written with a special two-eyed he, ھ. These distinctions are essential to South Asian names: the retroflex t in a name like Atif is a different sound from the dental t, and using the wrong one produces a different name.
Urdu transliteration uses the Perso-Arabic script with additional aspirated consonant letters. The beautiful Nastaliq style flows diagonally from upper right to lower left.
Urdu can represent a wider range of sounds than Arabic or Persian because it inherited both the Persian additions and the Indic retroflex series. It has p, hard g, ch and zh from Persian, plus the retroflex and aspirated consonants. English names therefore transliterate into Urdu with unusual fidelity compared with other Arabic-script languages.
The remaining gaps are the familiar ones. There is no distinct w — و serves for both v and w, though Urdu speakers often read it as w in English names, which is closer than Persian manages. English th has no equivalent and becomes ت or ٹھ depending on the speaker. Short vowels remain unwritten, so the same skeleton supports several readings, and names are frequently written with the vowel diacritics on formal documents to prevent this.
Here are examples of common English names transliterated to Urdu:
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Use our Urdu translator above. Enter your English name and it will be converted to Urdu script using phonetic transliteration.
Spoken Urdu and Hindi are largely mutually intelligible, but they use different scripts. Urdu uses Nastaliq (Perso-Arabic based), while Hindi uses Devanagari.
Urdu uses the beautiful Nastaliq calligraphic style, which flows diagonally. It's considered one of the most aesthetically pleasing scripts in the world.
Yes, Urdu is written and read from right to left, like Arabic and Persian.
Our transliteration follows standard Urdu conventions. For official documents, verify with relevant authorities for specific spelling preferences.
Urdu is set in Nastaliq, a diagonal calligraphic style where each word cascades down from right to left, rather than the horizontal Naskh used for Arabic. It needs a specialised font; without one, systems fall back to Naskh, which reads as visibly wrong to Urdu speakers.
Generally yes. Urdu has the Persian additions p, g, ch and zh plus Indic retroflex and aspirated consonants, so it covers a wider sound range and transliterates English names more closely.
They represent retroflex consonants inherited from South Asian languages, made with the tongue curled back. They are distinct from the dental t and d, and using the wrong one changes the name.