Name in Japanese M Martin

Martin in Japanese

マーティン
Katakana
マーティン
Hiragana
まーてぃん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Mātin

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

How Martin sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

マー
ティ Ti
N

Full reading: Mātin

Do more with Martin in Japanese

Why Martin 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, Martin appears as マーティン. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees マーティン and immediately reads it by its sound, Mātin.

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 Martin becomes マーティン 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.