Name in Japanese S Shi

Shi in Japanese

シー
Katakana
シー
Hiragana
しー
Romaji (Hepburn)
Shī

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

Read it one katakana at a time:

シー Shī

Full reading: Shī

Do more with Shi in Japanese

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

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 Shi becomes シー 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.