Kanji My Name converts a name to kanji in three steps, entirely in your browser: first to its Japanese sound, then split into syllables, then each syllable matched to a small, hand-picked set of kanji — the first choice always carrying a positive meaning, and swappable for another with the same or closest Japanese sound.
In three steps, all inside your browser.
1. Your name → Japanese sound. First we work out how your name is pronounced in Japanese, the way it would be written in katakana (Emily → エミリー, emirī). Japanese has a small set of syllables — every one ends in a vowel or "n" — so a name is reshaped to fit them. Names with more than one common pronunciation let you pick yours.
2. Sound → syllables. The Japanese reading is split into syllables: e · mi · rī. Where it makes the result more beautiful, we compress: a syllable ending in "n" becomes one character (ken → 健), and consonant clusters are simplified rather than padded (Alex → a · re · ku, not a · re · ku · su). Long vowels are shortened (Emily's rī becomes ri), as they nearly always are in ateji — the katakana above keeps the full length.
3. Syllable → kanji. Each syllable is matched to a small, hand-curated set of kanji with the same or closest Japanese sound. The first choice always carries a positive meaning — love, light, wisdom, blossom — and you can swap any character for another with the same or closest Japanese sound but a different meaning. One calligraphy font is applied to the whole name, so the characters read as a single work.
Type your own name and watch it become Japanese sound, then kanji, in real time.
Create your kanji name art — free