Name in Japanese R Rafael
This is the established spelling used for Rafael in Japanese dictionaries, books and media.
Read it one katakana at a time:
Full reading: Rafaeru
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, Rafael appears as ラファエル. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ラファエル and immediately reads it by its sound, Rafaeru.
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 Rafael becomes ラファエル 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.
