Foreign Names

[Fyrefly]

Hi guys

A friend of my Dad's is planning on getting his son's names tattooed on himself.
He asked me to write the names in kanji.

I explained that Western names are usually written in katakana, and I offered to print both his kids' names off in a few different fonts so he could better choose a style he likes.

What I wanted is, hopefully, a general consensus... I'm pretty sure of how I would write their names, but I just wanted to make sure others agreed with me.
I mean... this guy is tattooing himself... it would be a very permanent mistake if I got it wrong >.>

I've emailed a few of my Japanese friends, but obviously katakana is phonetic and I'm not sure if they will have heard these names spoken before.


The names are: Declan and Liam.

[ninwa]

Sorry, this is absolutely no help to you, but: http://www.hanzismatter.com/

[EvangelionZeta]

Declan: デクラン (De-ku-ra-n)

Liam: リアム (Ri-a-mu)

[IntoTheNewWorld]

I would do what EZ wrote (note: I lose lots of marks on katakana spelling)

Katakana doesn't look very cool though >_>

matching Kanji/Hanzi to the sounds Chinese-style would look so much cooler, although would read like gibberish.

[Fyrefly]

Hmm... I agree with Declan... but I would have thought Liam would be better written as: リーアム

I would do what EZ wrote (note: I lose lots of marks on katakana spelling)

Katakana doesn't look very cool though >_>

matching Kanji/Hanzi to the sounds Chinese-style would look so much cooler, although would read like gibberish.

Well... I'm going to give him a couple of links about all of this, just so he can understand a little better... one of sites reads:

"Kanji is generally not used to write foreign names. However if you wish to have a kanji name, try the following sites. Please note that although foreign names can be translated into kanji, they are translated purely on a phonetic basis and in most cases will have no recognizable meaning."

I spose I can always give him a few kanji options... I've found a few online for Liam, but Declan is a bit harder.
I dunno... I'm kind of adverse to gibberish kanji names... I hope he doesn't decide on using kanji just coz it looks cooler.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

I way I decided was リアム has 400,000 google hits whereas リーアム has only 132,000 =]