Jeffrey in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing Jeffrey in katakana

• ー is the long-vowel mark: it stretches the sound before it. In vertical writing it turns into a vertical line.
• Write the small ェ at about half size, in the lower left of the square (in horizontal writing). ジェ is one sound, je.
• Japanese has a single sound for English L and R, so both are written with the ラ-row (ra, ri, ru, re, ro).
• 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.

Jeffrey on Japanese forms

Example full name: Jeffrey Smith → ジェフリー・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス ジェフリー. 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 じぇふりー); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ｼﾞｪﾌﾘｰ).

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 Jeffrey in Japanese?

Jeffrey is usually written ジェフリー (jefurī) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. In hiragana it is じぇふりー.

Is there a kanji for Jeffrey?

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.