Name in Japanese L Leanne

Leanne in Japanese

リアン
Katakana
リアン
Hiragana
りあん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Rian

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

How Leanne sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ri
A
N

Full reading: Rian

Do more with Leanne in Japanese

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

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 Leanne becomes リアン 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.