Write Your Name in Hieroglyphics
Type your name below to see it transliterated into ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs using the same signs carved into temple walls over 3,000 years ago.
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How Does Name Translation Work?
Egyptian Hieroglyphs Are Consonantal
Unlike English, ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic writing records only consonants; there are no true vowel signs. When Egyptologists need to pronounce Egyptian words, they insert an βeβ between consonants by convention. For example, the name nfr is pronounced βneferβ (meaning βbeautifulβ).
The 24 Uniliteral Signs
The core of the hieroglyphic writing system is a set of 24 single-consonant signs called uniliterals. These work like an alphabet: each sign represents one consonant sound. This translator uses these 24 signs to approximate your name, matching each letter to the closest Egyptian equivalent.
How We Handle Vowels
Since Egyptian has no vowel signs, we use standard Egyptological approximations. The vowels βaβ maps to the vulture sign (a glottal stop called aleph). The vowels βeβ and βiβ use the reed sign (the semi-vowel j/y). The vowels βoβ and βuβ use the quail chick (the semi-vowel w). These conventions are used by museums, universities, and Egyptologists worldwide.
The Cartouche
Your name is displayed inside a cartouche (Egyptian: shenu), an oval enclosure with a horizontal line at one end. In ancient Egypt, cartouches were reserved exclusively for royal names: the pharaoh's throne name and birth name. Ordinary Egyptians' names were written without cartouches. We use it here because it's the most recognisable hieroglyphic element and clearly marks the text as a name.
Why It's Not an Exact Translation
This tool produces a phonetic transliteration, not a translation. We're approximating the sounds of your name using ancient Egyptian signs, not translating the meaning. Some English sounds simply didn't exist in Egyptian. For example, βlβ and βrβ were the same sound, βvβ didn't exist (we use βfβ), and vowels are only approximated. This is the same approach ancient Egyptian scribes used when writing foreign names: they did their best with the sounds available to them.
Academic Sources
The sign mappings in this translator follow the conventions established in Sir Alan Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar (3rd ed., 1957) and James P. Allen's Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (3rd ed., 2014). The Gardiner Sign List codes (e.g. G1, D21, M17) are the international standard for referencing individual hieroglyphs.
The 25 Signs Behind Your Name
Every name the translator writes is built from these single-sound hieroglyphs, the βhieroglyphic alphabetβ. Egyptian wrote consonants only, so several English letters share a sign (c and k, v and f) and the vowels borrow the weak consonants πΏ π π ±. There was no native L: the lion π was pressed into service for Greek and Roman names such as Cleopatra and Ptolemy.
| Sign | Sound | English | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|
| πΏG1 | κ£ (aleph)say βahβ | a | Egyptian vulture |
| πM17 | κ½ (yod)say βeeβ | i, e | Reed leaf |
| πM17A | ysay βy / eeβ | y (ee) | Two reed leaves |
| πD36 | κ₯ (ayin)say βah (guttural)β | a (deep) | Forearm |
| π ±G43 | wsay βoo / wβ | w, u, o | Quail chick |
| πD58 | bsay βb as in boyβ | b | Foot and lower leg |
| πͺQ3 | psay βp as in penβ | p | Reed mat or stool |
| πI9 | fsay βf as in fishβ | f, v | Horned viper |
| π G17 | msay βm as in motherβ | m | Owl |
| πN35 | nsay βn as in nameβ | n | Ripple of water |
| πD21 | rsay βr (lightly rolled)β | r, l | Mouth |
| πO4 | hsay βh as in hatβ | h | Reed shelter |
| πV28 | αΈ₯say βh (breathy, from the throat)β | h (breathy) | Twisted wick |
| πAa1 | αΈ«say βkh as in Scottish lochβ | kh (loch) | Placenta or sieve |
| π‘F32 | αΊsay βkh (softer, further forward)β | kh (soft) | Animal belly with teats |
| π΄S29 | ssay βs as in sunβ | s | Folded cloth |
| πO34 | zsay βz / sβ | z | Door bolt |
| πN37 | Ε‘say βsh as in shipβ | sh | Pool |
| πN29 | qsay βk (further back in the throat)β | q, c (hard) | Hill-slope |
| π‘V31 | ksay βk as in kiteβ | k | Basket with handle |
| πΌW11 | gsay βg as in goβ | g | Jar-stand |
| πX1 | tsay βt as in topβ | t | Bread loaf |
| πΏV13 | αΉ―say βch as in churchβ | ch (church) | Tethering rope |
| π§D46 | dsay βd as in dogβ | d | Hand |
| πI10 | αΈsay βj as in judgeβ | j (judge) | Cobra |
Full chart with origins and example words: the hieroglyphic alphabet.
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