Name in Japanese R Rodolfo

Rodolfo in Japanese

ロドルフォ
Katakana
ロドルフォ
Hiragana
ろどるふぉ
Romaji (Hepburn)
Rodorufo

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

How Rodolfo sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

Ro
Do
Ru
フォ Fo

Full reading: Rodorufo

Do more with Rodolfo in Japanese

Why Rodolfo 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, Rodolfo appears as ロドルフォ. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ロドルフォ and immediately reads it by its sound, Rodorufo.

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 Rodolfo becomes ロドルフォ 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.