Name in Japanese A Adam

Adam in Japanese

アダム
Katakana
アダム
Hiragana
あだむ
Romaji (Hepburn)
Adamu

This is the established spelling used for Adam in Japanese dictionaries, books and media.

How Adam sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

A
Da
Mu

Full reading: Adamu

Do more with Adam in Japanese

Why Adam is written in katakana

In Japanese, foreign names are written in katakana — the angular script reserved for words borrowed from other languages. So on a form, a name tag, a delivery slip or a news article in Japan, Adam appears as アダム. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees アダム and immediately reads it by its sound, Adamu.

Katakana is a syllabary, so English sounds are fitted to the nearest Japanese syllables and every consonant (except ん) is followed by a vowel. That is why Adam becomes アダム rather than a letter-for-letter copy. More than one katakana spelling can be reasonable for the same name, which is why we flag whether a spelling is a long-established one or a natural default.