Shirley in Japanese Katakana

Tips for writing Shirley 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 ャ at about half size, in the lower left of the square (in horizontal writing). シャ is one sound, sha.
• シ (shi) and ツ (tsu) look alike. In シ the two short strokes are placed on the left and the long stroke sweeps upward; in ツ the short strokes stand at the top and the long stroke sweeps downward.
• 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.

Shirley on Japanese forms

Example full name: Shirley Smith → シャーリー・スミス (Western order, names separated by ・).

Most Japanese forms put the family name first: スミス シャーリー. 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 しゃーりー); some bank and card forms ask for half-width katakana (ｽﾐｽ ｼｬｰﾘｰ).

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 Shirley in Japanese?

Shirley is usually written シャーリー (shārī) in katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names. In hiragana it is しゃーりー.

Is there a kanji for Shirley?

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.