Cyrillic to Latin Converter: ISO 9, BGN/PCGN, Passport

Which standard to use

Start from what the Latin text is for, not from the alphabet. The same Cyrillic name can have three valid Latin spellings at once, each right in its own setting, and mixing them up is what leads to mismatched tickets and duplicate catalog entries.

Choosing a Cyrillic romanization by purpose
If the Latin text is for	Use	Why
A passport, visa or airline booking	ICAO Doc 9303	The table of the international travel document specification, in plain letters only.
A record that must convert back to Cyrillic	ISO 9:1995	One Latin character per letter, so nothing is lost on the way back.
Ukrainian names and place names	Ukrainian national transliteration	Ukraine's own system since 2010, with spellings that depend on position.
Bulgarian names and place names	Bulgarian Transliteration Act	The Streamlined System written into Bulgarian law in 2009.
Serbian text of any kind	Serbian Latin alphabet	Serbian already has a Latin alphabet, matched letter for letter.
Russian place names in English	BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian	One of five Russian standards, compared in full on the Russian page.

How the converter recognizes the language

Paste text in any of six languages and the converter decides which one it is before it picks a standard. It reads the letters themselves. Some belong to a single language: ї, є and ґ point to Ukrainian, ў to Belarusian, ђ and ћ to Serbian, and ѓ, ќ and ѕ to Macedonian. Others narrow the field: ы and э appear only in Russian and Belarusian, and і appears in Ukrainian and Belarusian but not in modern Russian.

When a text fits more than one alphabet, spelling habits decide. Bulgarian uses ъ as a full vowel between consonants, as in Търново, while Russian writes ъ only before е, ё, ю and я, so a ъ in front of a consonant tips the result toward Bulgarian. Without a clue of that kind the converter falls back to Russian.

Short words can be genuinely ambiguous. София is spelled the same way in Russian and Bulgarian, and on its own it is read as Russian. When the language matters, for a name on an official form for instance, choose it in the Language menu of the tool. The list of standards follows: Ukrainian adds the 2010 national system, Bulgarian the 2009 Streamlined System and Serbian the Serbian Latin alphabet.

Russian

Russian has the most standards in this converter, five in all, which is why it has a page of its own. The table here shows the two systems that work for every Cyrillic language, ISO 9 and the passport table of ICAO 9303, across the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet.

For GOST 7.79-2000 System B, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system, with the rules for е, ё and the hard and soft signs, see Russian transliteration, every standard side by side.

The Russian alphabet in ISO 9 and ICAO 9303
Letter	ISO 9	ICAO 9303
А а	a	a
Б б	b	b
В в	v	v
Г г	g	g
Д д	d	d
Е е	e	e
Ё ё	ë	e
Ж ж	ž	zh
З з	z	z
И и	i	i
Й й	j	i
К к	k	k
Л л	l	l
М м	m	m
Н н	n	n
О о	o	o
П п	p	p
Р р	r	r
С с	s	s
Т т	t	t
У у	u	u
Ф ф	f	f
Х х	h	kh
Ц ц	c	ts
Ч ч	č	ch
Ш ш	š	sh
Щ щ	ŝ	shch
Ъ ъ	ʺ	ie
Ы ы	y	y
Ь ь	ʹ	(omitted)
Э э	è	e
Ю ю	û	iu
Я я	â	ia

Ukrainian

Ukrainian is romanized with the national system adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine in Resolution No. 55 of 27 January 2010. It uses only the plain letters of the English alphabet, with no diacritics, and it was written with names in mind: its official table pairs every letter with example place names and personal names.

Letters that sound different from Russian get different spellings. Г is h, because Ukrainian г is a voiced h sound, so Богдан is Bohdan and Олег is Oleh. Ґ, the hard g, is g. И is y and і is i, which is how Київ becomes Kyiv.

Five letters change with their position. At the start of a word є, ї, й, ю and я are written ye, yi, y, yu and ya; anywhere else they are ie, i, i, iu and ia. That is why Єнакієве is Yenakiieve, with ye at the front and ie in the middle. The pair зг is written zgh, so that it cannot be misread as the zh of ж, and the soft sign and the apostrophe are not written at all.

The Ukrainian alphabet in ISO 9, ICAO 9303 and the 2010 national system
Letter	ISO 9	ICAO 9303	Ukraine 2010
А а	a	a	a
Б б	b	b	b
В в	v	v	v
Г г	g	h	h
Ґ ґ	g̀	g	g
Д д	d	d	d
Е е	e	e	e
Є є	ê	ie	ye (initial), ie
Ж ж	ž	zh	zh
З з	z	z	z
И и	i	y	y
І і	ì	i	i
Ї ї	ï	i	yi (initial), i
Й й	j	i	y (initial), i
К к	k	k	k
Л л	l	l	l
М м	m	m	m
Н н	n	n	n
О о	o	o	o
П п	p	p	p
Р р	r	r	r
С с	s	s	s
Т т	t	t	t
У у	u	u	u
Ф ф	f	f	f
Х х	h	kh	kh
Ц ц	c	ts	ts
Ч ч	č	ch	ch
Ш ш	š	sh	sh
Щ щ	ŝ	shch	shch
Ь ь	ʹ	(omitted)	(omitted)
Ю ю	û	iu	yu (initial), iu
Я я	â	ia	ya (initial), ia
Зг зг	letter by letter	letter by letter	zgh
’	’	letter by letter	(omitted)

Ukrainian place names and first names in the 2010 national system
Ukrainian	Ukraine 2010	Rule at work
Київ	Kyiv	и is y; ї inside a word is i
Богдан	Bohdan	г is h
Юрій	Yurii	ю at the start is yu; й at the end is i
Єнакієве	Yenakiieve	є is ye at the start and ie inside
Їжакевич	Yizhakevych	ї at the start is yi
Кадиївка	Kadyivka	ї inside a word is i
Йосипівка	Yosypivka	й at the start is y
Згорани	Zghorany	зг is zgh
Знам'янка	Znamianka	the apostrophe is not written
Харків	Kharkiv	х is kh

Bulgarian

Bulgarian follows the Streamlined System set out in the Transliteration Act of 2009. Like the Ukrainian system it sticks to plain letters. Its signature choices are ъ, a vowel in Bulgarian, written as a, and щ written as sht, which is how Bulgarian pronounces that letter, where the Russian systems write shch.

Two rules depend on context. The ending ия is written ia rather than iya, so София is Sofia and Мария is Maria, while Илияна, where ия is not at the end, keeps iya. And the Act fixes the name of the country as Bulgaria, not the Balgaria that a letter by letter reading would produce.

The Bulgarian alphabet in ISO 9, ICAO 9303 and the 2009 Streamlined System
Letter	ISO 9	ICAO 9303	Bulgaria 2009
А а	a	a	a
Б б	b	b	b
В в	v	v	v
Г г	g	g	g
Д д	d	d	d
Е е	e	e	e
Ж ж	ž	zh	zh
З з	z	z	z
И и	i	i	i
Й й	j	i	y
К к	k	k	k
Л л	l	l	l
М м	m	m	m
Н н	n	n	n
О о	o	o	o
П п	p	p	p
Р р	r	r	r
С с	s	s	s
Т т	t	t	t
У у	u	u	u
Ф ф	f	f	f
Х х	h	kh	h
Ц ц	c	ts	ts
Ч ч	č	ch	ch
Ш ш	š	sh	sh
Щ щ	ŝ	sht	sht
Ъ ъ	ʺ	ie	a
Ь ь	ʹ	(omitted)	y
Ю ю	û	iu	yu
Я я	â	ia	ya
ИЯ ия	letter by letter	letter by letter	ia (at the end of a word)

Bulgarian names in the 2009 Streamlined System
Bulgarian	Bulgaria 2009	Rule at work
България	Bulgaria	the country name is fixed by the Act
София	Sofia	ия at the end of a word is ia
Мария	Maria	ия at the end of a word is ia
Илияна	Iliyana	ия inside a word is iya
Търново	Tarnovo	ъ is a
Щастливец	Shtastlivets	щ is sht; ц is ts
Кърджали	Kardzhali	ж is zh
Ивайло	Ivaylo	й is y
Ямбол	Yambol	я is ya

Serbian

Serbian is the one language here that needs no transliteration scheme, because it already has a Latin alphabet of its own, used side by side with Cyrillic. The two alphabets match letter for letter: each of the 30 Cyrillic letters has exactly one Latin partner, and three of those partners are written with two characters, lj, nj and dž.

The conversion from Cyrillic is therefore exact: ђ is đ, ћ is ć, ј is j, љ is lj, њ is nj and џ is dž. The diacritics are part of Serbian spelling, so keep them unless a form accepts nothing but plain letters. Going the other way is almost as simple; only the rare word in which n and j, or d and ž, meet as separate letters needs a dictionary.

The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet in ISO 9, ICAO 9303 and Serbian Latin
Letter	ISO 9	ICAO 9303	Serbian Latin
А а	a	a	a
Б б	b	b	b
В в	v	v	v
Г г	g	g	g
Д д	d	d	d
Ђ ђ	đ	d	đ
Е е	e	e	e
Ж ж	ž	zh	ž
З з	z	z	z
И и	i	i	i
Ј ј	ǰ	j	j
К к	k	k	k
Л л	l	l	l
Љ љ	l̂	lj	lj
М м	m	m	m
Н н	n	n	n
Њ њ	n̂	nj	nj
О о	o	o	o
П п	p	p	p
Р р	r	r	r
С с	s	s	s
Т т	t	t	t
Ћ ћ	ć	c	ć
У у	u	u	u
Ф ф	f	f	f
Х х	h	kh	h
Ц ц	c	ts	c
Ч ч	č	ch	č
Џ џ	d̂	dz	dž
Ш ш	š	sh	š

Serbian names and places in the Serbian Latin alphabet
Serbian	Serbian Latin	Rule at work
Ђорђевић	Đorđević	ђ is đ; ћ is ć
Љубљана	Ljubljana	љ is lj
Његош	Njegoš	њ is nj; ш is š
Џеп	Džep	џ is dž
Ћуприја	Ćuprija	ј is j
Чачак	Čačak	ч is č
Ужице	Užice	ж is ž; ц is c
Шабац	Šabac	ш is š

Belarusian and Macedonian

Belarusian and Macedonian text converts as well, with ISO 9 or with the ICAO passport table. The passport table treats Belarusian г as h, as it does for Ukrainian, and the letters particular to each language, Belarusian ў and Macedonian ѓ, ќ and ѕ, have fixed values in both systems. The national romanization systems of Belarus and North Macedonia are not part of this converter yet.

ISO 9: the reversible option

ISO 9 works differently from every other system on this page. It is not built around English pronunciation or around one country's spelling; it gives each Cyrillic letter, in every language, a single Latin character of its own. Where the Latin alphabet runs out, diacritics fill the gap: ж is ž, ч is č, ш is š, щ is ŝ, ю is û and я is â.

Because no two Cyrillic letters share a Latin form, the conversion runs both ways without loss, and the original Cyrillic can be rebuilt from ISO 9 output letter for letter. A phonetic system cannot promise that, since it merges letters or drops them: the passport table writes е and ё both as e, and the soft sign vanishes in the passport table and in the Ukrainian 2010 system.

Independence from language also means one ISO 9 string serves every language. Гоща, Пещера and Київ come out as Goŝa, Peŝera and Kiïv whether the text is treated as Russian, Ukrainian or Bulgarian. The passport table, as the next section shows, gives a different answer for each.

The passport table and its language rows

ICAO Doc 9303 is the table behind the machine-readable lines of passports. Most of it is shared by all Cyrillic languages, but a few values depend on the language: for Ukrainian г is h and и is y, for Belarusian г is h, and for Bulgarian щ is sht. The converter applies the row for the language it detects, so the same letters can give different passport spellings.

The same letters in ICAO 9303 with and without a language row
Word	Language	ICAO 9303, language row	Same letters as Russian
Київ	Ukrainian	Kyiv	Kiiv
Гоща	Ukrainian	Hoshcha	Goshcha
Пещера	Bulgarian	Peshtera	Peshchera

The standards in brief

ISO 9:1995. ISO 9:1995 is the international standard for transliterating Cyrillic into Latin, with one Latin character for each Cyrillic letter, so the text can be converted back without loss.

ICAO Doc 9303. ICAO Doc 9303 (7th edition, 2015, Part 3) defines the transliteration of Cyrillic into plain Latin letters used for names in machine-readable passports and travel documents.

Ukrainian national transliteration. Ukraine's official transliteration, set by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 55 of 27 January 2010, writes Ukrainian in plain Latin letters and spells some letters differently at the start of a word.

Bulgarian Transliteration Act. Bulgaria's official transliteration is set by the Transliteration Act of 2009 and writes letters such as ж, щ and ъ as zh, sht and a.

Serbian Latin alphabet. Serbian is written in both Cyrillic and Latin, and the Serbian Latin alphabet gives each Cyrillic letter a fixed Latin letter or digraph, such as ђ as đ, љ as lj and џ as dž.

Sources

International Organization for Standardization (ISO): ISO 9:1995
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO): ICAO Doc 9303, 7th edition (2015), Part 3
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 55 of 27 January 2010
Transliteration Act, Republic of Bulgaria (2009)
Serbian orthography: Serbian Latin alphabet, official alongside Cyrillic

Every letter table and example on this page is produced by the same engine that runs the converter, when the page is built, so the reference and the tool cannot drift apart. Rules last verified: October 26, 2026. How the engines are checked.

Frequently asked questions

How do I convert Cyrillic to Latin letters?

Paste or type the text into the converter at the top of this page and the Latin version appears as you type. It works out whether the text is Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Serbian or Macedonian and starts with a standard that suits that language, which you can switch at any time. Nothing is uploaded; the conversion happens in your browser.

How do I transliterate Ukrainian names?

Use Ukraine's national system of 2010, set by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 55. It writes г as h and и as y, and spells є, ї, й, ю and я as ye, yi, y, yu and ya at the start of a word but as ie, i, i, iu and ia inside it. So Юрій is Yurii, Київ is Kyiv and Єнакієве is Yenakiieve. The converter applies these rules on its own when it detects Ukrainian.

Which Cyrillic transliteration is used for passports?

The international reference is ICAO Doc 9303, which the International Civil Aviation Organization publishes for travel documents. Its Cyrillic table produces plain letters such as zh, kh, ts and shch. Ukraine and Bulgaria also have official national systems of their own, so for a form or a ticket, copy the spelling printed in the passport itself.

Can romanized text be converted back to Cyrillic?

Reliably, only from ISO 9. It gives every Cyrillic letter its own Latin character, so the original can be rebuilt exactly. Every other system merges or drops letters: in the passport table е and ё are both e and the soft sign disappears, so the way back needs a dictionary or a guess.

How do you write Bulgarian in Latin letters?

With the Streamlined System of the Bulgarian Transliteration Act of 2009: ж is zh, щ is sht, ъ is a, and ия at the end of a word is ia. That gives Sofia for София, Tarnovo for Търново and Bulgaria for България.

How do I convert Serbian Cyrillic to Latin?

Swap each letter for its partner in the Serbian Latin alphabet, which the converter does in one step: ђ to đ, ћ to ć, љ to lj, њ to nj and џ to dž. Serbian uses both alphabets every day, so the result is ordinary Serbian rather than a transliteration scheme: Ђорђевић is Đorđević and Нови Сад is Novi Sad.

Does the converter handle Belarusian and Macedonian?

Yes. Belarusian and Macedonian text converts with ISO 9 or with the ICAO passport table, including letters such as ў, ѓ, ќ and ѕ. The national romanization systems of Belarus and North Macedonia are not included yet.