Name in Japanese A Alfred

Alfred in Japanese

アルフレッド
Katakana
アルフレッド
Hiragana
あるふれっど
Romaji (Hepburn)
Arufureddo

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

How Alfred sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

A
Ru
Fu
Re
ッド Ddo

Full reading: Arufureddo

Do more with Alfred in Japanese

Why Alfred 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, Alfred appears as アルフレッド. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees アルフレッド and immediately reads it by its sound, Arufureddo.

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 Alfred becomes アルフレッド 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.