Name in Japanese R Rubi

Rubi in Japanese

ルービー
Katakana
ルービー
Hiragana
るーびー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Rūbī

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

Read it one katakana at a time:

ルー
ビー

Full reading: Rūbī

Do more with Rubi in Japanese

Why Rubi 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, Rubi appears as ルービー. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ルービー and immediately reads it by its sound, Rūbī.

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 Rubi becomes ルービー 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.