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Many online Katakana generators will create デービッド for the name David but
looking at some texts you'll see デイビット. Is there a difference to how the name
is being used, e.g. in a sentence, or is it purely a preference on how the
name sounds?

On wikipedia you'll see lots of different translations:

David Beckham - デビッド・ベッカム

David Bowie - デヴィッド・ボウイ

David Attenborough - デイビッド・アッテンボロー

David Copperfield (book) - デイヴィッド・コパフィールド

David Copperfield (illusionist) - デビッド・カッパーフィールド

Are they all correct, does someone in the north of Japan use the same spelling
as someone in the south, does it change over time? I'm surprised there isn't
an accepted single translation?
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2021-12-07T12:44:03.487
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katakana english-to-japanese
What is the difference between デービッド and デイビット for a name, is it purely the sound?
デービッド sounds kind of funny to me but it's not so wrong, probably acceptable. I
think デイビッド or ディビッド is much common and natural to Japanese. Basically, there
is no compatible spelling and pronunciation with English word and name, we can
just pick up Hirakana/Katakana which sounds similar.
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2021-12-07T14:34:44.933
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It is sometimes difficult to express foreign sounds in kana, leaving
fluctuations in transliterations. 'David' is one of those.

E.g. [this web site](https://rename-consultant.com/column/name-notation-on-
familybook/) says

> ところが皆様もご存じのとおり、外国語の発音を日本のカタカナでうまく表現できない場合が多々あります。
>
>
> 例えば「David」さん、「デービッド」「デイビッド」「デーヴィッド」「デビッド」等々、色々なカタカナの表記があるようですが、市区町村では統一的な表記のルールがないそうです。

So ultimately it is decided by the one who writes the name. Dicken's book has
several translations with title ディヴィッド, デイヴィッド, コッパーフィールド, コパーフィールド etc.

* * *

I think デービッド is commonly used only for [Camp
David](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AD%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E3%83%BB%E3%83%87%E3%83%BC%E3%83%93%E3%83%83%E3%83%89)

* * *

Not an English example, but Goethe had [many 'Japanese
names'](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A8%E3%83%8F%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%B4%E3%82%A9%E3%83%AB%E3%83%95%E3%82%AC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%86#%E8%A1%A8%E8%A8%98%E3%81%A8%E8%AA%AD%E3%81%BF)
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2021-12-09T00:56:17.490
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There are multiple factors contributing to great spelling variation of this
English name.

  1. ビ vs ヴィ: To many Japanese speakers, //b// - //v// distinction is merely orthographical and thus interchangeable.

  2. デー vs デイ: Distinction of these sounds is optional for most dialects. I believe Tokyo people nowadays _can_ hear the difference, but little existing vocabulary requires it; moreover, the English //eɪ// is a diphthong and its last part is not always pronounced clearly.

  3. デー vs デ: English does not have phonemic vowel length. Which it strikes Japanese long or short usually depends on relative lengthiness to other syllables around, and of course, how you pronounced every time. "A" in "Dave" would be consistently recognized long, but since English speakers tend to insert a non-phonemic "checkedness" before a closing consonant, Japanese speakers tend to stably hear a mora ッ in the second syllable of "David", and this complicates the length recognition.

So if it's your name, you have the right to choose which variant to use, and I
don't think people would find it wrong either way. (As long as you are fine
that people would always use that katakana pronunciation to call you.)
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