Name in Japanese L Leonardo

Leonardo in Japanese

レオナルド
Katakana
レオナルド
Hiragana
れおなるど
Romaji (Hepburn)
Reonarudo

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

How Leonardo sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Re
O
Na
Ru
Do

Full reading: Reonarudo

Do more with Leonardo in Japanese

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

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 Leonardo becomes レオナルド 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.