Name in Japanese M Matt

Matt in Japanese

マット
Katakana
マット
Hiragana
まっと
Romaji (Hepburn)
Matto

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

How Matt sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ma
ット Tto

Full reading: Matto

Do more with Matt in Japanese

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

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 Matt becomes マット 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.