Margaret in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing Margaret in katakana

• ー is the long-vowel mark: it stretches the sound before it. In vertical writing it turns into a vertical line.
• 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 has a single sound for English L and R, so both are written with the ラ-row (ra, ri, ru, re, ro).
• Japanese syllables end in a vowel (except ン), so the final consonant of Margaret becomes ト (to). Say it lightly.
• 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.

Margaret on Japanese forms

Example full name: Margaret Smith → マーガレット・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス マーガレット. 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 まーがれっと); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ﾏｰｶﾞﾚｯﾄ).

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 Margaret in Japanese?

Margaret is usually written マーガレット (māgaretto) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. In hiragana it is まーがれっと.

Is there a kanji for Margaret?

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.