Your name in Katakana
Posted by: kirin on 
Sep 18th, 2009 | 
Filed under: Learn JapaneseThank you so much for your comments to my Japanese video. I was really wondering if I should ever start Japanese tutorial videos like this, although I have received requests from my blog readers from time to time.
I found comments from my blog readers sound so interesting, as I never know what you’d feel confused or difficult when you learn Japanese. You know, when I mean I never know, which is because it’s a mother tongue to me and I am not a qualified Japanese teacher. But thanks to your opinions and comments, I think I know what I should explain in my following videos.
BTW, I found an interesting Japanese site that lists foreign names (British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Finnish, Russian and Korean) described in Katakana! Now you know why these are to be in Katakana, and not in Hiragana. 
*Press the flag. 3 flags for one country means; 1st one for male name, 2nd one for female name, and the 3rd one for family name.
Your name may not be there, as there’s no way the site can cover every name. You may also wonder how your name can be described in Kanji. This is a frequently asked question all the time, but I’ll spare a post on that for next time!
Enjoy your name in Japanese! 
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September 18th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
片仮名で私の名前はアマンダです。でも、私の漢字の書き方をまだ決めていません。
I've looked up a few translations and they usually have this kanji for "a" –> 亜
でも、あの漢字は好きじゃないですよ！>＿<
I once received calligraphy of my name in kanji that looks like this –> 明満妥
好きですが、『明』を読むと、『あか・るい』を考えます。日本人は明満妥を見たら、どんな読み方を考えるでしょうか？そして、女の名前みたいの？
よろしくお願いします！
September 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
:'( I can't read the page . I probably need to install a font (character type) , but thanks for the link . I'll be able to mark my clothes , luggage ,etc.. with my name in Katakana when I go to Japan. ( in this life or my next )
Actually i already know my name in katakana. Keiko-sensei showed me when I attended a Umi-e class with her in London.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:07 am
OK, let's discuss this in my next video. I'll think of other options for you in the video.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:17 am
You may just need to select the character encoding for the page. In Firefox, that's under View | Character Encoding | Auto-Select | Japanese. In IE, right-click on the page | Encoding | Auto-Select. If the auto-select doesn't work, try selecting Japanese (EUC) manually.
It is possible that you need to install a character set, or a font set, but I think it's just an encoding issue.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:27 am
hello kirin chan ! I wanna ask is it that kaijin uses katakana for their name coz they are foreign/ their name are foreign? so does tht mean that Japanese can only use hiragana/kanji for their name?
Thanks in advance !
September 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
ディヤナ My name in Katakana~~
September 20th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Good question! Our names are mostly in Kanji, unless the parents name us in Katakana or in Hiragana.
We prefer to have Kanji names rather than Katakana or Hiragana ones because each Kanji has a meaning itself.
This means, naming with good meaning of Kanji allows us to have meaning of "beautiful" "smart" "warm-hearted" "healthy" "love" "honest" and whatever…in our names. (There should be no parents who name their kids "devil" "mean" "dishonest" or whatever in bad meaning.) But Katakana or Hiragana names do not have any meanings. They are just letters.
BTW, you mean "kaijin" -> "gaijin" as foreigners in Japanese, right?
Gaijin names are usually described in Katakana because they are foreign.
But I think it's fun to pick up the best Kanji as they learn Japanese.
September 20th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Thank you G…, I don't know such technical things.
Your comment was helpful.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:13 am
葉世榮 = イプ サイ ウェング 。。。hehe don't know correct or not. How to pronounce the kanji in japanese?
September 21st, 2009 at 12:41 am
Oh you already know that. Cool!
September 21st, 2009 at 12:54 am
Wow that looks like Chinese? 葉 ha(kun-yomi) or you(on-yomi) 世 yo(kun) or se(on) and we have a similar Kanji 栄, but not exactly the one or yours but it's saka(eru) or ei….so that sounds like "youyoei" or something. ウェング! I wonder if our Kanji has any sound like that. In that way Chinese has more options of sounds?
September 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
It is chinese. 榮 means "flourish". And the katakana I wrote up there is what it would sound like in cantonese. What's the meaning of this 栄 in japanese?
September 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
BTW, you mean “kaijin” -> “gaijin” as foreigners in Japanese, right?
yup, sorry !
umm excited for the post about how to translate our name to kanji. (for my case: chinese> katakana> kanji ?! it it even possible? >”< )
thank you very much !<:
September 21st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
edit: eh the post is alrd out !im checking it out now !
October 7th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Exactly the same as your letter in Chinese. (I think our 栄 is a simple version of 榮. When I type "ei" in Japanese my computer suggests many Kanji options that have "ei" sounds, and when I keep scrolling, I can also find your 榮. But this character is not popular in Japan. I've never used it in my life. I strongly feel that 榮 has been replaced by 栄 in Japanese. We use 栄 a lot, such as …繁栄、栄光, you can guess these huh?)
April 3rd, 2011 at 9:35 am
eeeh
My name isnt there TTwTT But thankyou for the link~!
If it’s possible, do you know how to translate my name to katakana?
My name is Areej C:
April 13th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
sheriru! that's my name in japanese
is it the same in katakana?
April 15th, 2011 at 10:18 am
Yes, シェリル in katakana.
April 15th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
and what's my name in kanji and hiragana?same?
'
here's the link to my blog http:sheriiru.wordpress.com/
don't hesite to visit please and leave some comments huh
April 16th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Katakana, hiragana and kanji are all different.
I'm not volunteering on that, so you could ask your Japanese friend or pay for the service, there are companies that offer such services. Thanks.
July 2nd, 2011 at 4:51 am
My name as a whole wasn't on there, but I found the separate parts:
Kay: ケイ
Lee: リー
ケイリー actually looks very pretty to me, and if I remember right when I was younger, a very nice volunteer wrote my name in Katakana on a piece of rice paper for me. I've been trying to find it ever since I started to like Japanese culture, but I haven't had any luck. :c
July 2nd, 2011 at 11:44 am
Your writings are correct. ^ ^
Marie will be マリエ just FYI.
July 25th, 2011 at 4:28 am
Hi, Kirin. I have a silly doubt.
My name is Gabriel. Wikipedia says "Gabriel (Hebrew: גַבְרִיאֵל) is a given name or surname derived from the Hebrew name "Gabriel" meaning 'able-bodied one of God'. It was popularized by the association with the Biblical archangel Gabriel."
The Archangel Gabriel is named ガブリエル in Japanese, and it really makes a lot of sense.
But, in Portuguese, an L at the end of a syllable has a U sound. So, Gabriel is read the same way it would be if it were "Gabriéu". No sound difference at all.
Knowing that, should I use ガブリエル or ガブリエウ or something else?.
Could we have two persons with the same name in latin alphabet but different names in kana?
I'm confused and I guess my text is a bit confusing too. Sorry for that.
And thanks in advance for your attention and help.
July 26th, 2011 at 5:43 am
If you want to be called as Gabrieu, then it's written as ガブリエウ. But I think it's easy for us to pronounce and remember as ガブリエル. Would it be a problem if you were to be called ガブリエル in Japan? *sorry I didn't really get what you meant.* :p
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