Russian Names in Japanese: A Table of 40 Names in Katakana
Russian names are written in Japanese with katakana, the syllabary used for all foreign words: Anna → アンナ, Dmitry → ドミートリー, Victoria → ヴィクトリア. Below are two tables, one for female names and one for male names, twenty names each. Names are not written in kanji: each character would bring its own meaning. Japanese has no sounds like English "l" or "v", so they are replaced with the closest equivalents: "l" → "r", and "v" → ヴ or the ワ-row.
Japanese rebuilds a foreign name from its own syllables, and the result can be surprising: Vladimir turns into "Urajīmiru." This is not careless distortion — the language simply has no standalone consonants except "n."
Female Names in Japanese
| Name | Katakana | How It Sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Anna | アンナ | Anna |
| Anastasia | アナスタシア | Anasutashia |
| Nastya | ナースチャ | Nāsucha |
| Maria | マリーヤ | Marīya |
| Ekaterina | エカテリーナ | Ekaterīna |
| Olga | オリガ | Origa |
| Elena | エレーナ | Erēna |
| Yulia | ユリヤ | Yuriya |
| Irina | イリーナ | Irīna |
| Svetlana | スヴェトラーナ | Suvetorāna |
| Darya | ダーリヤ | Dāriya |
| Polina | ポリーナ | Porīna |
| Arina | アリーナ | Arīna |
| Ulyana | ウリヤーナ | Uriyāna |
| Kira | キラ | Kira |
| Alina | アリーナ | Arīna |
| Diana | ディアナ | Diana |
| Victoria | ヴィクトリア | Vikutoria |
| Alisa | アリーサ | Arīsa |
| Kristina | クリスチーナ | Kurisuchīna |
What Most Often Changes in Female Names
Russian female names usually end in "-a" or "-ya," and that suits Japanese: an open syllable at the end is the norm for its own names, so Marina, Polina, and Arina fit into katakana almost without loss. What breaks is the middle of the word. "L" goes into the ラ・リ・ル・レ・ロ row, and Alina and Arina become the same word アリーナ; "v" requires the character ヴ, which was invented only in the 19th century, hence two spellings for Victoria and Svetlana.
Male Names in Japanese
| Name | Katakana | How It Sounds |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander | アレクサンドル | Arekusandoru |
| Sasha | サーシャ | Sāsha |
| Dmitry | ドミートリー | Domītorī |
| Dima | ジーマ | Jīma |
| Sergey | セルゲイ | Serugei |
| Ivan | イワン | Iwan |
| Maxim | マクシム | Makushimu |
| Vladimir | ウラジーミル | Urajīmiru |
| Nikita | ニキータ | Nikīta |
| Artyom | アルチョム | Aruchomu |
| Mikhail | ミハイル | Mihairu |
| Andrey | アンドレイ | Andorei |
| Pavel | パーヴェル | Pāveru |
| Egor | エゴール | Egōru |
| Kirill | キリル | Kiriru |
| Matvey | マトヴェイ | Matovei |
| Alexey | アレクセイ | Arekusei |
| Timur | ティムール | Timūru |
| Roman | ロマン | Roman |
| Pyotr | ピョートル | Pyōtoru |
Male names almost all end in a consonant, and here Japanese reshapes them more heavily. There are no closed syllables in the language, so a vowel is added to the final consonant: Alexander stretches to seven morae アレクサンドル, Maxim to マクシム. Because of the length, people use a short form in daily life — サーシャ instead of the full name, and Japanese people accept it more readily.
Rules by Which a Name Is Reshaped
- "L" becomes "r": Lena → レナ (Rena), Kirill → キリル (Kiriru).
- "V" is rendered with ヴ or the ワ-row: Vladimir → ウラジーミル, Pavel → パーヴェル.
- "Y" turns into "i," since there is no separate sound.
- A consonant without a vowel gets "u" or "o": Maxim → マクシム (Makushimu).
- Length is marked with the dash ー: Dima → ジーマ (Jīma).
Why Names Are Not Written in Kanji
A kanji spelling of a name is chosen "by sound," and each character brings its own meaning. From the same name you can get both "light-hope" and "bad grass" — simply because the characters are read the same way. That is why foreign names in Japan are officially written in katakana: in documents, on badges, on tickets.
What My Name Means in Japanese
Strictly speaking — nothing: katakana conveys only sound. Meaning appears only if you deliberately choose kanji, but that is a game, not a translation. A Japanese person seeing アンナ will simply hear "Anna" — just as we hear "Yuki" without parsing what it is made of.
FAQ
- How do I write a Russian name in Japanese?
- In katakana, breaking the name into Japanese syllables: Anna → アンナ, Sergey → セルゲイ, Maxim → マクシム. Foreign names are not written in kanji.
- Why katakana specifically?
- It is the syllabary for everything foreign: names, brands, loanwords. It conveys sound and does not add extra meanings, unlike kanji.
- What about the sounds "l" and "v"?
- "L" is replaced with "r" (Lena → レナ), "v" is rendered with ヴ or the ワ-row (Vladimir → ウラジーミル). Japanese has no separate "l" or "v" sounds.
- What does my name mean in Japanese?
- Nothing: katakana conveys only sound. Meaning appears only if you deliberately choose kanji by sound, but that is a game, not a translation of the name.
Updated: 2026-09-09