Name in Japanese R Raven

Raven in Japanese

レイブン
Katakana
レイブン
Hiragana
れいぶん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Reibun

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

How Raven sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Re
I
Bu
N

Full reading: Reibun

Do more with Raven in Japanese

Why Raven 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, Raven appears as レイブン. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees レイブン and immediately reads it by its sound, Reibun.

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 Raven becomes レイブン 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.