Name in Japanese S Sullivan

Sullivan in Japanese

サリバン
Katakana
サリバン
Hiragana
さりばん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Sariban

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

Read it one katakana at a time:

Sa
Ri
Ba
N

Full reading: Sariban

Do more with Sullivan in Japanese

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

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 Sullivan becomes サリバン 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.