Name in Japanese B Barbie

Barbie in Japanese

バービー
Katakana
バービー
Hiragana
ばーびー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Bābī

This is the common, natural katakana for Barbie. Katakana approximates English sounds, so a slightly different spelling can also be valid — treat this as a reliable default, not the single "correct" answer.

How Barbie sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

バー
ビー

Full reading: Bābī

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Why Barbie 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, Barbie appears as バービー. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees バービー and immediately reads it by its sound, Bābī.

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 Barbie becomes バービー 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.