Name in Japanese W Washington

Washington in Japanese

ワシントン
Katakana
ワシントン
Hiragana
わしんとん
Romaji (Hepburn)
Washinton

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

Read it one katakana at a time:

Wa
Shi
N
To
N

Full reading: Washinton

Do more with Washington in Japanese

Why Washington 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, Washington appears as ワシントン. This is the correct and respectful way a non-Japanese name is represented; it is not a kanji "translation". A Japanese reader sees ワシントン and immediately reads it by its sound, Washinton.

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 Washington becomes ワシントン 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.