Name in Japanese B Barnabas

Barnabas in Japanese

バーナバス
Katakana
バーナバス
Hiragana
ばーなばす
Romaji (Hepburn)
Bānabasu

This is the common, natural katakana for Barnabas. 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 Barnabas sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

バー
Na
Ba
Su

Full reading: Bānabasu

Do more with Barnabas in Japanese

Why Barnabas 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, Barnabas appears as バーナバス. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees バーナバス and immediately reads it by its sound, Bānabasu.

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 Barnabas becomes バーナバス 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.