Name in Japanese M Motley

Motley in Japanese

モトリー
Katakana
モトリー
Hiragana
もとりー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Motorī

This is the common, natural katakana for Motley. Katakana approximates English sounds, so a slightly different spelling can also be valid — treat this as a reliable default, not the single "correct" answer.

How Motley sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Mo
To
リー

Full reading: Motorī

Do more with Motley in Japanese

Why Motley 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, Motley appears as モトリー. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees モトリー and immediately reads it by its sound, Motorī.

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 Motley becomes モトリー 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.