Karl in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing Karl in katakana

• ー is the long-vowel mark: it stretches the sound before it. In vertical writing it turns into a vertical line.
• 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.

Karl on Japanese forms

Example full name: Karl Smith → カール・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス カール. 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 かーる); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ｶｰﾙ).

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 Karl in Japanese?

Karl is usually written カール (kāru) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. In hiragana it is かーる.

Is there a kanji for Karl?

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.