Name in Japanese A August

August in Japanese

オーガスト
Katakana
オーガスト
Hiragana
おーがすと
Romaji (Hepburn)
Ōgasuto

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

How August sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

オー Ō
Ga
Su
To

Full reading: Ōgasuto

Do more with August in Japanese

Why August 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, August appears as オーガスト. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees オーガスト and immediately reads it by its sound, Ōgasuto.

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 August becomes オーガスト 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.