How to write in Latin. Russian names in English: rules of spelling and pronunciation

Every language has such a category of words as proper names: first names, surnames, all kinds of names. Each of us has at least once been faced with the need not to translate, namely write Russian word in English. For example, when we are dealing with names, surnames, names of cities, streets, and various establishments (such as cafes, restaurants, hotels), we need to convey the sound of the word and make it readable in English. The names of cultural and religious events, names of holidays, national elements that are not in English-speaking culture also require transmission in English, because we communicate about these things with foreigners, talk about our country and culture.

There are rules for this purpose transliterations - a method of writing words of one language using the means of another. Each letter of the Russian alphabet (Cyrillic alphabet) has a corresponding English letter (Latin alphabet) or a combination of letters.

There are many transliteration systems and standards. But first, let's talk about transliteration standards. Now that almost everyone has a foreign passport, when we travel abroad and fill out documents and forms in English, it is simply necessary to know the rules of transliteration that are accepted in the world.

Below are options for transliteration of letters and combinations of the Russian alphabet:

Russian letters	English letters and combinations

The soft sign and the hard sign are not conveyed in writing. Some letters are represented by combinations of two letters, and the letter Ш - by a combination of four: shch.

For example:

Surname Shcherbakov will be written Shcherbakov.

Vowels E And Yo transliterated as YE if they appear at the beginning of a word or after a vowel:

Yezhov
Yezhikov
Sergeyev - Sergeyev

In the Russian language, letter combinations are often found Y with vowels, and each of the combinations has a correspondence:

Russian combinations	English combinations

Many countries have transliteration rules for international passports. In Russia, for example, the following rules apply for foreign passports:

A-A, B-B, B-V, G-G, D-D, E-E, E-E, F-ZH, Z-Z, I-I, J-I, K-K, L- L, M-M, N-N, O-O, P-P, R-R, C-S, T-T, U-U, F-F, X-KH, C-TC, Ch-CH, Sh-SH, Shch-SHCH, Y-Y, E-E, Yu-IU, I-IA.

Transliteration of first and last names for international passports occurs according to this standard using a special program into which your data is entered in Russian. If you have a foreign passport, you must use the spelling of your first and last name that is presented in the document.

Transliteration is used not only when preparing documents. We have already mentioned groups of words for which we use transliteration. For example, in English texts it is easy to find the words borshch, pelmeni, matryoshka, Perestroyka and many others that have no equivalent in English.

Or perhaps you remember the times when mobile phones did not support Russian, and we exchanged SMS messages in English. At the same time, everyone intuitively invented their own rules of transliteration. Reading these messages was not easy, but very funny. For example, to transmit a letter AND used the letters G, J, Z, ZH. With letter Y It was generally difficult: it was written as I, U, Y, JI. Those days are long gone, but the need to master the transliteration system has not disappeared, but, on the contrary, has increased. Use the knowledge you have gained and communicate in English fluently. I wish you success!

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A couple of years ago, some procedures related to the use of foreign passports changed in the Russian Federation. The process for obtaining a document remains the same. But the rules of transliteration have undergone a small but important transformation. This was motivated by the desire of the Russian authorities to move to an international system of transcription of names and surnames. The changes eliminated the confusion associated with the use of previous standards.

Transliteration of first and last names means romanization of the Russian text. Simply put, the Cyrillic spelling of letters and their combinations is being replaced by the Latin alphabet. Transliteration rules have undergone changes several times. And now they have been brought to international standards.

Before applying for a new foreign passport, you can check the correct spelling of your first and last name in Latin.

This is easy to do on our website. Online transliteration is available absolutely free.

You need to enter your first and last name in Russian. The data is entered into the appropriate form. They will be automatically translated into Latin in accordance with the new transliteration rules.

Key changes

• The new transliteration rules affected:
• Most popular Russian names.

For example, EGOR in the new spelling format turned into EGOR (instead of YEGOR). And the surname TSAPLIN used to be written in Latin as TCAPLIN. The newest standardized option is TSAPLIN. Thus, the main changes affected the following Cyrillic letters:

• The letter "E" is transliterated as "E". Previously, it was represented by the combination “YE”.
• “Y” received a new designation “I”, whereas previously it was written with the letter “Y”.
• When translated, the vowel “Yu” is transformed into “I” with the addition of “U”. That is, the correct spelling is “IU”. Previously, “Yu” turned into the Latin letters “YU”.
• "C" is now denoted by the combination "TS". Previously, the “TC” symbols played the role of this letter.
• “Kommersant”, which disappeared under the previous system of romanization of the Cyrillic alphabet, received its own designation. Now "hard sign" is written as "IE".

For example, according to new standards, YULIA became IULIIA DMITRY - DMITRII, and VALERY - VALERII.

Difference in documents

Don’t worry if the spelling of your first and last name in your new passport is different from the old one. This also applies to cases where a ticket for a trip abroad was purchased using a document with the same transcription. Russians will not have problems traveling using a foreign passport with the new transliteration. However, especially suspicious citizens have the right to ask to keep the previous version of the letter designation of the first and last name.

How to leave the previous spelling

If a citizen does not agree to change the spelling of his first and last name in the new passport, he is allowed to leave the previous option.

To do this, a corresponding request is attached to the papers for replacing the identity card. In it, the applicant asks to keep the first and last name as they are indicated in the previous sample. In this case, reference should be made to paragraph 28 of Order No. 211, signed by the FMS in 2014.

• The application is written in free form. But the citizen must indicate the reason prompting him to leave the previous data. It is recommended to use documents issued on the basis of a passport as justification. For example:
• Open visa.
• Residence permit of another state.
• Marriage certificate obtained outside the Russian Federation.

Education documents

Documents must be valid. The applicant submits copies of them.

It is also possible that the citizen’s data was entered incorrectly into the new passport - the wrong letter was written down in the first or last name. This should be immediately reported to the department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs where the applicant received the document. You should first make sure that this is really an error and not a new transcription standard.

If the error occurred due to the fault of officials, the citizen will be issued a corrected passport within a couple of hours. The applicant will only have to provide one more passport photo. You will not need to pay the state fee again and write an application.

However, the speed of correcting such shortcomings only applies to old-style documents. Necessary amendments to new generation identity cards take a little longer. Therefore, it is advisable to carefully check the relevance of the transliteration rules at the time of ordering a new passport for foreign tours.

According to the Russian authorities, changes to the transliteration rules for international passports will benefit the owners of this document. It is according to the new rules that the names and surnames of Russians are now included in the foreign passport and documents issued on its basis. The latter, in particular, include tour reservations, visas, foreign residence permits, foreign bank accounts, various certificates, etc.

There is nothing more natural than starting to learn English by writing your own name in letters of the Latin alphabet.

Writing Russian names in English often causes difficulties, largely because there are no uniform rules in this regard. However, a set of general principles can still be defined.

• Read further in our article about the special transliteration rules currently used when issuing foreign passports.

General rules for transliterating names

The first thing to remember is first and last names are not translated, especially when it comes to documents and business correspondence. You should not select English-language analogues and call Elena Helen, and Mikhail Michael. Instead, the name should be transliterated, that is, written in Latin. In this case, you can use the following correspondence system:

A	A	Andrey (Andrey)	ABOUT	ABOUT	Olga (Olga)
B	B	Boris (Boris)	P	P	Pavel (Pavel)
IN	V	Valery (Valery)	R	R	Roman
G	G	Gleb (Gleb)	WITH	S	Sergey (Sergey)
D	D	Dmitry (Dmitry)	T	T	Tatyana (Tatyana)
E	Ye/E	Yelena, Elena (Elena)	U	U	Ulyana (Ulyana)
Yo	Yo/E	Pyotr, Petr (Peter)	F	F	Philip (Philip)
AND	Zh	Zhanna (Zhanna)	X	Kh	Khariton (Khariton)
Z	Z	Zinaida (Zinaida)	C	Ts	Tsarev (Tsarev)
AND	I	Irina (Irina)	H	Ch	Chaykin (Chaykin)
Y	Y	Timofe y(Timofe th)	Sh	Sh	Sharov (Sharov)
K	K	Konstantin (Konstantin)	SCH	Shch	Shchepkin (Shchepkin)
L	L	Larisa (Larissa)	Y	Y	M y skin (M s skin)
M	M	Margarita (Margarita)	E	E	Eldar (Eldar)
N	N	Nikolay (Nikolai)	YU	Yu	Yury (Yuri)
I	Ya	Yaroslav (Yaroslav)

Special rules for transliterating names

Apart from the more obvious rules of transliteration, there are cases where it is not entirely clear how a given name should be written. Let's look at these options.

Letters b And Kommersant are not transmitted in transliteration. Using an apostrophe (") in their place is also not recommended:

• Daria - Darya
• Igor
• Olga - Olga

Letters Y And Y transmitted by letter Y:

• Bystrov
• Sadyrova
• Mayorov

If the last name ends with "th", remains in transliteration "-y":

• White

Since the letter H sometimes unreadable in English, to convey Russian sound "X" combination is used KH:

• Akhmatova
• Rakhmaninov

Russian combination KS better to convey in letters KS, but not X:

• Ksenia — Ksenia
• Alexander - Alexander

If the letter E denotes one sound (as in the name Vera), it is represented by a Latin letter E—Vera. If it denotes two sounds (after a soft sign), it is conveyed by the combination YE— Astafyev.

But: If E stands at the beginning of the name, both options are possible: the name Elena can be written as Elena or Yelena.

Letter E usually written the same way as E, but if you want to emphasize the pronunciation of the name, then you should use the letter combination YO— Fyodor, Pyotr.

Letter Ш can be written in the form SCH, but in German this combination will be read as "sh". In order to avoid confusion, it is recommended to use a seemingly unpronounceable combination of letters SHCH.

Ending "-and I" can be transliterated as -IA or -IYA. However, to avoid unnecessary bulkiness, Y usually don't write:

• Maria - Maria
• Valeria - Valeria ​

Important note: transliteration when issuing international passports

Transliteration rules for issuing foreign passports often change. At the moment, as of 2015, the following transliteration rules apply (we present the differences from the main table):

• Previously, when issuing foreign passports, the rules of GOST R 52535.1-2006, introduced in 2010, were used.

If you want the previous spelling of your first and last name to be retained when receiving a new passport, you can write a corresponding application to the issuing authority, duly justifying your desire. The basis for such an application is the presence of documents with a different spelling of your first and last name: passports, diplomas, residence permits, visas, as well as other registration and banking documents, including bank cards.

class="bold">Last year in Russia the rules for writing proper names in Latin for foreign passports changed. Let us remember that they have already changed in 2010. At the same time, different branches of the FMS applied different rules, both international and Russian. The new transliteration in the international passport in 2019 complies with the international standard.

What are the differences

The changes affected the letters “Y” and “C”. A translation has appeared for the hard sign and the letter “E”.

Cyrillic	Translit	Cyrillic	Translit	Cyrillic	Translit
A	A	TO	K	X	KH
B	B	L	L	C	T.S.
IN	V	M	M	H	CH
G	G	N	N	Sh	SH
D	D	ABOUT	O	SCH	SHCH
E	E	P	P	Kommersant	I.E.
Yo	E	R	R	Y	Y
AND	ZH	WITH	S	b
Z	Z	T	T	E	E
AND	I	U	U	YU	IU
Y	I	F	F	I	I.A.

What will your new name look like? Online transliteration for a foreign passport is available on many sites, but be careful: some of them are already outdated.

Translation rules

Transliteration of the name in the international passport is carried out automatically by a special program. Your task is to fill out the form correctly, and the task of the FMS specialists is to correctly enter the data in Cyrillic into the computer. Such rules for writing surnames in international passports have long been introduced by the International Civil Aviation Organization and are used in many countries around the world.

Will there be problems

Many people ask whether there will be problems if their last name is written differently on different papers. It is no secret that when there is a difference in at least one letter, it is necessary to prove, for example, family ties through the court.

In fact, it is not very critical if the spelling in the new passport is different from the old one. There should be no problems with bank cards either: the next time the card is reissued, they will simply change the spelling of your name.

According to the rules of many airlines, you can also fly with a new passport using a ticket that was purchased using an old document, even if your name looks a little different.

How to keep your “old” name

When applying for a new foreign passport, write a free-form application in which you indicate what your last name (or first name) should look like and why. Address the application to the head of the FMS department. To be more convincing, refer to the FMS order No. 211 dated March 26, 2014 (clause 28.1.8). Please attach a sample and copies of documents with the old transliteration to the application: class="bold">

• passport of another country;
• resident card;
• birth certificate;
• Marriage certificate;
• old passport;
• educational documents;
• visa

All documents issued by foreign countries must be translated into Russian and legalized.

You cannot change the transliteration rules solely at your request.

If it is misspelled

What to do if you notice an error in your new passport? You need to immediately point it out to the migration service employees.

A passport printed with errors is considered invalid and cannot be used.

Make sure that there is actually an error in the passport, and not the new transcription rules that have been in effect since 2015. As a rule, an employee enters your data into a computer in Russian, and the translation is done automatically. Therefore, if you entered your data correctly in the form, the likelihood of an error is negligible.

According to the law, if a typo occurred due to the fault of the FMS, you must be issued a new passport in record time - in two hours. In this case, all you need is a photograph. There is no need to provide documents or pay the fee again.

Of course, such deadlines are only possible for replacing a paper passport. Incorrect transliteration in a new international passport will not be corrected so quickly by FMS employees; it may take much longer.

How to make a foreign passport. Methods for submitting documents to the FMS: Video

Sooner or later, everyone has to learn how Russian names are written in English transliteration. As a rule, the occasion is pleasant: registration of a foreign passport and/or other documents in which Russian surnames are written in English. But before the treasured document is in your hands, you will have to find out how to spell the surname in English. And it’s better to do it yourself, so as not to be surprised at the “ingenuity” of the passport office employees.

However, all employees accepting applications for international passports in 2017 are guided by a serious document: the Order of the Federal Migration Service “On approval of the Administrative Regulations for the provision by the Federal Migration Service of public services for registration and issuance of passports.” And transliteration is carried out according to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization, so there should be no errors.

Rules for transliteration from Russian to English

To get to the essence of any problem, you need to simplify it as much as possible. So to speak, decompose it into elementary particles. This means that the transliteration of English words must begin with the corresponding letters. And here is the first catch: not only the sound, but also the number of letters in the Russian and English alphabet is different (33 and 26 letters, respectively). That is, in order to write Russian words (in this case, names) in English letters, you will have to use suitable combinations.

You don’t have to pick them up by ear or come up with them yourself. Everything has already been thought up and approved. The result is in the transliteration table of the Russian alphabet:

			b - goes down
			b - lowered

You can safely use this transliteration from Russian to English, it is approved by the US State Department. And British officials will not be against such a transfer. It is accompanied by several comments:

The letter E of the Russian alphabet is transliterated into the Latin alphabet as YE if it is at the beginning of a word, after the vowels and signs Ъ and ь. In all other cases - as E. For example, Evgeniy = Yevgeniy, Anatolyevich = Anatolyevich, Sergeevich = Sergeyevich.

The letter Ё is transliterated as YE if it appears at the beginning of a word, after vowels and the signs Ъ and ь. In all other cases - as E. For example, Yolkin=Yelkin, Planernaya=Planernaya.

The letters Y and Y are transliterated as Y in both cases. For example, Bystryy=Bystryy.

The letter C is transliterated as TS. In the same way as the letter combination TS. For example, Tsarev = Tsarev.

The combination of Russian letters KS is transliterated as KS, and not as X.

The letter Ш is rendered in writing as SH, and Ш – as SHCH. Examples: Shalyapin=Shalyapin, Shchitov=Shchitov.

Transliteration into English of Russian names

Translation of a surname into English from Russian occurs according to these rules. Now you can check them before writing your last name in Latin, or independently check the correctness of the information in your passport. But the name is a little easier. There is a ready-made table of correspondence between Russian names and English names. Just find yours:

Russian/English female names:

Agnes/Agnia – Agnes

Alice – Alice (Alice)

Anastasia – Anastacia

Antonina – Antonia

Valentina – Valentine

Valeria – Valery

Barbara – Barbara

Dasha - Dolly Dolly (Dorothy)

Eve - Eve

Eugenia - Eugenie

Catherine – Catherine, Catherine (Catherine)

Elena – Helen

Jeanne – Joan (Joanne, Jean)

Zoe - Zoe

Irina – Irene

Caroline - Caroline

Laura – Laura, Lauren (Laura, Lauren)

Maria – Mary (Mary)

Natalya – Natalie

Polina – Polina (Paulina)

Rita – Margaret

Sofia – Sophie

Suzanne – Susan (Susan)

Julia – Julia (Julia).

Russian/English male names:

Alexander – Eligzande (Alexander)

Anatoly - Anatole

Andrey – Andrew (Andrew)

Vasily – Basil

Benjamin – Benjamin

Vincent – ​​Vincent

Gabriel – Gabriel (Gabriel)

George - George

Daniel - Daniel

Eugene – Eugene

Ephraim – Geoffrey

Ivan – John, Ivan (John)

Ilya – Elias

Joseph, Osip – Joseph (Joseph)

Heraclius – Hercules (Heracl)

Charles – Charles

Claudius – Claude

Leo – Leo

Matvey – Matthew (Matthew)

Michael – Michael (Michael)

Nicholas – Nicholas

Pavel – Paul

Peter - Pete (Peter)

Sergey – Serge

Stepan – Stephen, Stephen (Steven, Stephen)

Fedor – Theodore

Jacob - Jacob.

If you are lucky enough to have a rarer name that is not on these lists, then transliteration from Russian to English remains a universal solution.

Transliteration from Russian to English is indeed not an easy task. Especially if you are writing an application for a foreign passport, that is, a lot depends on translating your surname into English. But now we hope that you are armed with useful information, know how to spell a surname in English, will never confuse transliteration with transcription, and will always be able to correctly say your name to foreigners.