Name in Japanese H Honor

Honor in Japanese

オナー
Katakana
オナー
Hiragana
おなー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Onā

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

Read it one katakana at a time:

O
ナー

Full reading: Onā

Do more with Honor in Japanese

Why Honor 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, Honor appears as オナー. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees オナー and immediately reads it by its sound, Onā.

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 Honor becomes オナー 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.