David in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing David in katakana

• The small ッ is a short pause that doubles the next consonant. Write it half size; a full-size ツ would be read "tsu".
• Japanese syllables end in a vowel (except ン), so the final consonant of David becomes ド (do). Say it lightly.
• The V sound can be written with ヴ or with the バ-row (ba, bi, bu, be, bo). Both are accepted by the 1991 rules; the バ-row is more common in everyday writing.
• Katakana is written left to right like English, or top to bottom in vertical text. Keep every character the same size except the small ones.

David on Japanese forms

Example full name: David Smith → デビッド・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス デビッド. In a フリガナ (furigana) field write it in katakana; if the field says ふりがな use hiragana (すみす でびっど); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ﾃﾞﾋﾞｯﾄﾞ).

Japan has no official katakana spelling for foreign names. Once you use a spelling for a bank account, phone contract or employer, keep using the same one so your records match.

FAQ

How do you write David in Japanese?

David is usually written デビッド (debiddo) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. You may also see デイビッド, デイヴィッド. In hiragana it is でびっど.

Is there a kanji for David?

No. Foreign names have no official kanji; they are written in katakana. Kanji versions offered online (ateji) are chosen only for sound and look, and their "meanings" are made up, so this site does not provide them.