Name in Japanese L Lilian

Lilian in Japanese

リリアン
Katakana
リリアン
Hiragana
りりあん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Ririan

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

How Lilian sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ri
Ri
A
N

Full reading: Ririan

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

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 Lilian becomes リリアン 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.