Olive in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing Olive 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).
• 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.

Olive on Japanese forms

Example full name: Olive Smith → オリーブ・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス オリーブ. 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 おりーぶ); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ｵﾘｰﾌﾞ).

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 Olive in Japanese?

Olive is usually written オリーブ (orību) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. You may also see オリーヴ. In hiragana it is おりーぶ.

Is there a kanji for Olive?

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.