Name in Japanese T Thomas

Thomas in Japanese

トーマス
Katakana
トーマス
Hiragana
とーます
Romaji (Hepburn)
Tōmasu

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

How Thomas sounds in Japanese

Read it one katakana at a time:

トー
Ma
Su

Full reading: Tōmasu

Do more with Thomas in Japanese

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

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 Thomas becomes トーマス 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.