Name in Japanese J Johnathan

Johnathan in Japanese

ジョナサン
Katakana
ジョナサン
Hiragana
じょなさん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Jonasan

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

How Johnathan sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

ジョ Jo
Na
Sa
N

Full reading: Jonasan

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Why Johnathan 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, Johnathan appears as ジョナサン. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ジョナサン and immediately reads it by its sound, Jonasan.

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 Johnathan becomes ジョナサン 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.