Name in Japanese H Harold

Harold in Japanese

ハロルド
Katakana
ハロルド
Hiragana
はろるど
Romaji (Hepburn)
Harorudo

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

How Harold sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ha
Ro
Ru
Do

Full reading: Harorudo

Do more with Harold in Japanese

Why Harold 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, Harold appears as ハロルド. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ハロルド and immediately reads it by its sound, Harorudo.

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 Harold becomes ハロルド 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.