Online Tools To Change Your Name Into Cool Japanese Styles

By: Karan Goel | 14th December 2009

Japanese calligraphy is an art to write the Japanese language. Its origin goes back to China is the twenty-eighth century before Christ. Calligraphy found its place in Japanese culture in 600 AD and is known as the karayo tradition.

For Westerners, the calligraphy is always fascinating. However, it takes years to learn to draw characters correctly. Two basic principles must be known in order to understand the Japanese writing: There are different spellings and different alphabets.

Now that you know the enough about Japanese writing styles, have a look at online resources to turn your name in beautiful Japanese calligraphy.

Japanese Translator

The following site  translates your name into Japanese using the Katakana alphabet. The dictionary contains around 3700 Western names. Their site also has some notes, that help users to pronounce the names correctly.

They offer a wide range of font types to choose from, including traditional, calligraphy, quirky, sans-serif, antique, manga, and modern. The resulting images can be downloaded (right-click on it and select “Save Image As…”) and are free for personal use.

Takase.com

This site has a collection of over nine thousand names. They are arranged in tables to provide easy accessibility.

As one goes from left to right the table shows the Western Name, Romaji, which shows how the name is pronounced in Japanese, the name written using the Katakana alphabet, the Kanji, which represents the literal translation or meaning of the name, and finally the meaning and how it is read in brackets.

Kanji Style

The last site provides a long list of words sorted into different categories. They also allow access to business- or society-related Kanjis and names.

The Kanji Styles, created by a professional Japanese Calligrapher, allows users to save the images to their hard drives for free personal use.

Unfortunately, the list of names provided a quite short. But, if you are lucky enough, your name will be added soon.

If you would like to learn more about Japanese calligraphy, its historical and cultural background, and how it is used today, then please refer to this Introduction to the Japanese language.

Did you ever consider getting a Japanese or Chinese Kanji tattoo? And in case you already have one, what does it say?