Name in Japanese O Otto

Otto in Japanese

オットー
Katakana
オットー
Hiragana
おっとー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Ottō

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

How Otto sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

O
ットー Ttō

Full reading: Ottō

Do more with Otto in Japanese

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

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 Otto becomes オットー 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.