How do I translate my last name into Japanese characters?

Answer 1

This site
http://www.japanesetranslator.co.uk/your-name-in-japanese/
will change your name into katakana - but I have to warn you that it won't take pronunciation into account! Japanese kana are based 100% on pronunciation - but websites can only give you their own mindless interpretation!

There are some links here
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_links.htm#names
but I haven't tested them, and they might be awful!

The best thing to do is to tell us what your name IS, and how it's pronounced (if there are variations,) and we can suggest some kanji combinations along with the meanings.

If you do get some kanji suggested - either from a website or on here - please double check the meanings! We don't want you to give yourself kanji meaning 'dog with no brain' or something now, do we?!! And worse has happened before...!

If you know something about Japanese pronunciation, you can type in romaji and search for your own choice of kanji on one of these sites,
http://rut.org/cgi-bin/j-e/dict
this site gives you possible words in a list of romaji, along with the meaning. Then you click on your chosen romaji word and it links you to a gif of the kanji - this is handy if your computer can't display Japanese characters, but the site is down quite frequently.
or
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1C
make sure you check the box that says "Check if the keyword is romanized Japanese"! You need to be able to see Japanese characters on here, it's all text and no gifs. There's a very large database though.
or
http://www.yesjapan.com/dictionary/yesjapan200k.php
this one has a smaller database. Keep it on Japanese, and type in the romaji pronunciation of your name...!

It's very complicated though...! Especially for me, because I don't know your name!!
; )

With any of those 3 web-sites you can select to type in an English word - if your name has a meaning, like maybe Whitehouse for example...! Then you can get the Japanese words for that, and the kanji - although for 'whitehouse' you'd have to do 'white' and 'house' separately!

Answer 2

Translate Name Into Japanese

Answer 3

If your last name means something specific, you can translate it into Japanese. However, I think what you mean is that you want to convert your last name phonetically into Japanese. In that case, as others pointed out, you would use what is called katakana, a set of 47 phonetic letters used for expressing foreign words (it's also used for other purposes, but it is not relevant to the discussion at hand). When one says "Japanese characters", one usually means kanji, those complicated-looking symbolic characters that have been adapted from Chinese. Each one has its own meaning(s).

Some people also contrive to turn their names into kanji, because they like the way they look. It is done by using kanji with sounds that closely resemble the sounds in the name. The meanings of the kanji are also taken into consideration since you don't want your name to come out meaning something strange.

However, don't count on a random Japanese person being able to recognize your name in kanji. It is basically for aesthetic reasons that people do this. It is not a common practice, and most kanji have more than one way to read it anyway.

There are also commercial services who would convert your name into katakana or kanji and turn it into a tatoo, calligraphy, etc. designs.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How do I translate my last name into Japanese characters?

Answer 5

As a foreigner, you would use a phonetic script called "katakana".

Answer 6

性交あなた自身は行く

Answer 7

bee was right.. you should use katakana since you are a foreigner... i dont think its hard to look for a chart over the net... goodluck...

Answer 8

yes, what is your last name?