Name in Japanese R Reeve

Reeve in Japanese

リーブ
Katakana
リーブ
Hiragana
りーぶ
Romaji (Hepburn)
Rību

This is the common, natural katakana for Reeve. 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 Reeve sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

リー
Bu

Full reading: Rību

Do more with Reeve in Japanese

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

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 Reeve becomes リーブ 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.