Russian transliteration
Which Russian transliteration is right depends on where the Latin text will be used: passports follow ICAO Doc 9303, maps and English place names use BGN/PCGN, exact reversible records use ISO 9, linguistics and Slavic studies use the scholarly system, and GOST 7.79-2000 System B serves Russian bibliographic work in plain ASCII.
The romanization updates as you type. The script is detected automatically.
Script: Cyrillic
For personal names: capitals, and no Korean sound changes inside a name.Try an example
Romanization
Standard for Cyrillic
BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN). 1947.
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Standard: BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian (BGN/PCGN)
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Which standard is used where
No single Russian transliteration is correct everywhere. Each standard was written for a particular job, and the job decides the spelling. The fourth column shows how one short word, Щука (pike), turns out under each.
| Use | Standard | Note | Щука becomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passports, visas and air tickets | ICAO Doc 9303 | Plain capitals for the machine-readable zone. | Shchuka |
| Maps, atlases and English place names | BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian | Agreed by the US and British names boards in 1947. | Shchuka |
| Records that must convert back | ISO 9:1995 | One Latin character per letter, with diacritics. | Ŝuka |
| Linguistics and Slavic studies | Scholarly transliteration | The academic convention with č, š and ž. | Ščuka |
| Bibliographic and ASCII-only systems in Russia | GOST 7.79-2000 System B | Letter pairs and backticks instead of diacritics. | Shhuka |
The Russian alphabet in five standards
The table lists all 33 letters of the Russian alphabet in alphabetical order, with the value each standard gives the lowercase letter. Capitals follow the same pattern, and a value of two or more letters is capitalized on its first letter only at the start of a name, so Щука is Shchuka rather than SHchuka. A cell with two values marks a letter whose spelling depends on where it stands; the rules follow below the table.
| Letter | ISO 9 | GOST 7.79 B | BGN/PCGN | ICAO 9303 | Scholarly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| А а | a | a | a | a | a |
| Б б | b | b | b | b | b |
| В в | v | v | v | v | v |
| Г г | g | g | g | g | g |
| Д д | d | d | d | d | d |
| Е е | e | e | e, ye (initial, after vowels, й, ъ, ь) | e | e |
| Ё ё | ë | yo | ë, yë (initial, after vowels, й, ъ, ь) | e | ë |
| Ж ж | ž | zh | zh | zh | ž |
| З з | z | z | z | z | z |
| И и | i | i | i | i | i |
| Й й | j | j | y | i | j |
| К к | k | k | k | k | k |
| Л л | l | l | l | l | l |
| М м | m | m | m | m | m |
| Н н | n | n | n | n | n |
| О о | o | o | o | o | o |
| П п | p | p | p | p | p |
| Р р | r | r | r | r | r |
| С с | s | s | s | s | s |
| Т т | t | t | t | t | t |
| У у | u | u | u | u | u |
| Ф ф | f | f | f | f | f |
| Х х | h | x | kh | kh | x |
| Ц ц | c | cz, c (before i, e, y, j) | ts | ts | c |
| Ч ч | č | ch | ch | ch | č |
| Ш ш | š | sh | sh | sh | š |
| Щ щ | ŝ | shh | shch | shch | šč |
| Ъ ъ | ʺ | `` | ʺ | ie | ʺ |
| Ы ы | y | y` | y | y | y |
| Ь ь | ʹ | ` | ʹ | (omitted) | ʹ |
| Э э | è | e` | e | e | è |
| Ю ю | û | yu | yu | iu | ju |
| Я я | â | ya | ya | ia | ja |
The positional rules: е, ё, й, ъ and ь
Five letters account for most of the disagreement between the standards. Each either depends on the letter in front of it or has no sound of its own, and every standard settles the problem in its own way. The converter applies all of these rules automatically, and the Why? panel under the output names the rule behind each letter.
е: e or ye
Russian pronounces е with a y sound in front of it at the start of a word and after a vowel. Only BGN/PCGN writes that sound: it spells е as ye at the start of a word, after a vowel and after й, ъ or ь, and as e everywhere else. ISO 9, GOST System B, the passport table and the scholarly system always write e.
- Ельцин: Elʹcin (ISO 9), El`cin (GOST 7.79 B), Yelʹtsin (BGN/PCGN), Eltsin (ICAO 9303), Elʹcin (Scholarly)
- Подъезд: Podʺezd (ISO 9), Pod``ezd (GOST 7.79 B), Podʺyezd (BGN/PCGN), Podieezd (ICAO 9303), Podʺezd (Scholarly)
- Достоевский: Dostoyevskiy (BGN/PCGN)
ё: ë, yo or e
ё splits the standards three ways. ISO 9, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system keep the two dots as ë, GOST System B spells the sound as yo, and the passport table flattens it to a plain e. BGN/PCGN also adds a y in the same positions as for е. Russian print often leaves the dots off ё altogether, and when the source text has е where ё is meant, every standard writes e.
- Пётр: Pëtr (ISO 9), Pyotr (GOST 7.79 B), Pëtr (BGN/PCGN), Petr (ICAO 9303), Pëtr (Scholarly)
- Хрущёв: Hruŝëv (ISO 9), Xrushhyov (GOST 7.79 B), Khrushchëv (BGN/PCGN), Khrushchev (ICAO 9303), Xruščëv (Scholarly)
- Ёлка: Ëlka (ISO 9), Yëlka (BGN/PCGN)
й: j, y or i
The short i is j in ISO 9, GOST System B and the scholarly system, y in BGN/PCGN and i in the passport table. The difference is easiest to see in the common ending ий, which gives ij, iy or ii. After й, BGN/PCGN writes a following е as ye.
- Юрий: Ûrij (ISO 9), Yurij (GOST 7.79 B), Yuriy (BGN/PCGN), Iurii (ICAO 9303), Jurij (Scholarly)
- Чайковский: Čajkovskij (ISO 9), Chajkovskij (GOST 7.79 B), Chaykovskiy (BGN/PCGN), Chaikovskii (ICAO 9303), Čajkovskij (Scholarly)
- Майя: Majâ (ISO 9), Mayya (BGN/PCGN), Majja (Scholarly)
ъ: the hard sign
The hard sign has no sound of its own. In modern Russian it stands in front of е, ё, ю or я to show that a y sound follows a hard consonant. ISO 9, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system mark it with a double prime, GOST System B with two backticks, and the passport table writes ie, which leaves three vowels in a row in a word like подъезд (entrance).
- Подъезд: Podʺezd (ISO 9), Pod``ezd (GOST 7.79 B), Podʺyezd (BGN/PCGN), Podieezd (ICAO 9303), Podʺezd (Scholarly)
- Объявление: Ob``yavlenie (GOST 7.79 B), Obʺyavleniye (BGN/PCGN)
ь: the soft sign
The soft sign marks the consonant before it as soft. ISO 9, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system write a prime, GOST System B a single backtick, and the passport table leaves it out, which is why Наталья is a letter shorter in a passport than under BGN/PCGN.
- Мышь: Myšʹ (ISO 9), My`sh` (GOST 7.79 B), Myshʹ (BGN/PCGN), Mysh (ICAO 9303), Myšʹ (Scholarly)
- Наталья: Natalʹâ (ISO 9), Natal`ya (GOST 7.79 B), Natalʹya (BGN/PCGN), Natalia (ICAO 9303), Natalʹja (Scholarly)
ц in GOST System B
GOST System B has one positional rule of its own: ц is c before i, e, y and j, and cz everywhere else.
- Цирк: Cirk (GOST 7.79 B)
- Цех: Cex (GOST 7.79 B)
- Отец: Otecz (GOST 7.79 B)
Worked examples
Each row below is romanized by the engine that runs the converter, at the moment this page was built, so the table and the tool cannot disagree. Read across a row to see the trade-offs: ISO 9 and the scholarly system stay close to the Cyrillic letters, BGN/PCGN and the passport table stay close to English spelling habits, and GOST System B keeps to the keys of a basic keyboard.
| Russian | ISO 9 | GOST 7.79 B | BGN/PCGN | ICAO 9303 | Scholarly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Щука | Ŝuka | Shhuka | Shchuka | Shchuka | Ščuka |
| Москва | Moskva | Moskva | Moskva | Moskva | Moskva |
| Жуков | Žukov | Zhukov | Zhukov | Zhukov | Žukov |
| Хрущёв | Hruŝëv | Xrushhyov | Khrushchëv | Khrushchev | Xruščëv |
| Чайковский | Čajkovskij | Chajkovskij | Chaykovskiy | Chaikovskii | Čajkovskij |
| Ельцин | Elʹcin | El`cin | Yelʹtsin | Eltsin | Elʹcin |
| Наталья | Natalʹâ | Natal`ya | Natalʹya | Natalia | Natalʹja |
| Подъезд | Podʺezd | Pod``ezd | Podʺyezd | Podieezd | Podʺezd |
| Эхо | Èho | E`xo | Ekho | Ekho | Èxo |
| Мышь | Myšʹ | My`sh` | Myshʹ | Mysh | Myšʹ |
| Пётр | Pëtr | Pyotr | Pëtr | Petr | Pëtr |
| Юрий | Ûrij | Yurij | Yuriy | Iurii | Jurij |
Russian names in passports
Russian international passports print the holder's name in Latin letters following ICAO Doc 9303, the specification of the International Civil Aviation Organization for machine-readable travel documents. Its Cyrillic table uses only the 26 basic letters, because the machine-readable zone at the bottom of the photo page allows nothing else.
Three choices of the table catch people out. Й is i, so a name ending in ий ends in ii; я and ю become ia and iu; and the hard sign becomes ie. The soft sign is not written at all. Common first names show the effect:
| Russian | ICAO 9303 | Rule at work |
|---|---|---|
| Юрий | Iurii | ю is iu; the ending ий is ii |
| Сергей | Sergei | й is i |
| Евгений | Evgenii | е at the start stays e |
| Наталья | Natalia | ь is not written; я is ia |
| Татьяна | Tatiana | ь is not written; я is ia |
| Ольга | Olga | ь is not written |
| Пётр | Petr | ё is e |
An older passport, a visa or a residence document issued abroad can show a different spelling from the one the current table gives, and banks and airlines compare names character by character. For any form or booking, copy the Latin name exactly as it is printed in the passport instead of transliterating it again. When you do need a fresh spelling, switch on names mode in the converter: it capitalizes each part of a name, including both halves of a double name. With names mode on, анна-мария becomes Anna-Mariia.
The five standards at a glance
ISO 9:1995. For Russian, ISO 9:1995 is the strictest option: each of the 33 letters becomes exactly one Latin character, so Щука becomes Ŝuka and Юрий becomes Ûrij, and the Cyrillic can be restored from the Latin text. GOST 7.79-2000 System A carries the same values.
GOST 7.79-2000 System B. GOST 7.79-2000 System B transliterates Russian with basic Latin letters, using letter combinations where System A uses diacritics.
BGN/PCGN romanization of Russian. BGN/PCGN is the romanization of Russian agreed in 1947 by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, and it is widely used for place names in English.
ICAO Doc 9303. ICAO Doc 9303, 7th edition (2015), Part 3, is the passport table, written in the 26 basic letters only. It is the spelling found in Russian international passports, and from there on tickets and visas.
Scholarly transliteration. Scholarly transliteration is the academic convention for writing Russian in Latin letters in linguistics and Slavic studies, with letters such as č, š and ž.
Sources
ISO 9:1995, International Organization for Standardization (ISO); GOST 7.79-2000, System B, GOST (interstate standard); BGN/PCGN romanization system for Russian (1947), United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) and Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN); ICAO Doc 9303, 7th edition (2015), Part 3, International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO); Scholarly transliteration, an academic convention in linguistics and Slavic studies, Academic convention (no single issuing body). Rules last verified: . How the engines are checked.
Frequently asked questions
Which transliteration do Russian passports use?
Russian international passports use the Cyrillic table of ICAO Doc 9303, the passport specification of the International Civil Aviation Organization. It writes only plain letters: й is i, ю is iu, я is ia, ъ is ie and ь is dropped, so Юрий is Iurii and Наталья is Natalia.
How do you write Щ in English letters?
Most often as shch, the spelling of BGN/PCGN and of the passport table, so Щука is Shchuka. GOST 7.79-2000 System B writes shh, ISO 9 uses the single letter ŝ, and the scholarly system writes šč.
What is the difference between ISO 9 and BGN/PCGN?
ISO 9 is a strict transliteration: one Latin character for every Cyrillic letter, with diacritics, so it can be converted back. BGN/PCGN is a romanization for English readers: it uses letter pairs such as zh, kh and shch and writes е as ye where it is pronounced that way. Хрущёв is Hruŝëv in ISO 9 and Khrushchëv in BGN/PCGN.
How do you transliterate ё?
As ë in ISO 9, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system, as yo in GOST 7.79-2000 System B, and as a plain e in passports under ICAO Doc 9303. Пётр is therefore Pëtr, Pyotr or Petr.
Why is е sometimes written ye?
Because Russian pronounces е with a y sound at the start of a word and after a vowel. BGN/PCGN writes that sound as ye in those positions and after й, ъ and ь, so Ельцин is Yelʹtsin. ISO 9, GOST System B, ICAO and the scholarly system always write e.
What happens to the hard and soft signs?
The passport table turns the hard sign ъ into ie and drops the soft sign ь. ISO 9, BGN/PCGN and the scholarly system keep both as the primes ʺ and ʹ, and GOST System B writes them with backticks, two for ъ and one for ь. Мышь is Mysh in a passport and Myšʹ in ISO 9.
Which Russian transliteration is used on maps?
BGN/PCGN, agreed in 1947 by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, is widely used for place names in English. Москва is Moskva in every standard; the systems part ways on letters such as щ, х and е.
Is GOST 7.79-2000 the same as ISO 9?
Partly. GOST 7.79-2000 has two systems: System A matches ISO 9, diacritics included, and System B replaces the diacritics with letter combinations so that basic ASCII is enough. This page and the converter use System B, where Щука is Shhuka and Царь is Czar`.
Related
Russian is one of six Cyrillic languages the converter handles. Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Serbian follow national systems of their own, set out on the Cyrillic to Latin page. Convert any Cyrillic text to Latin, or read what romanization is and how the standards for other scripts compare.