I'm being asked to fill my name in Katakana in an application form for a
language school in Japan.

I'm currently going with シワム・ムカージ since:

  1. The ワ sound is closest to the inflection on the -v sound so I avoided using バ.
  2. The ム at the end of my first name reflects the -m sound. Had I gone with ン it would lead to a lot of weird mispronunciations (in my opinion).
  3. Omitting the -r sound in "Mukherjee" reflects the etymology (in my opinion) of my surname, which is actually a simplified version of "Mukhopadhyay" meaning "Head Teacher" in Sanskrit.

Any insight about this would be most helpful.

IPA: [http://ipa-
reader.xyz/?text=%CA%83%C9%AAv%C9%90m%20m%CA%8Akh%C9%90%CA%80d%CD%A1%CA%92i&voice=Raveena](http://ipa-
reader.xyz/?text=%CA%83%C9%AAv%C9%90m%20m%CA%8Akh%C9%90%CA%80d%CD%A1%CA%92i&voice=Raveena)
is a close approximation but not accurate enough.

Audio: <https://sndup.net/7d54>

EDIT:

I thought of new candidates for my surname:

  1. ムクッジェ/ムコッジェ - from "Mukhujje/Mukhojje" which is an early contraction of "Mukhopadhyay"
  2. ムカッジ - more modern, fitting with "Mukherjee" but stressing on the -j instead of elongating the second syllable.

These are based on the same premise as point 3 from my OP where I'm trying to
fit with the etymology.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-14T12:08:23.447
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2021-06-15T06:51:37.023
2021-06-15T06:51:37.023
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question
katakana names written-language
How should I write my name - Shivam Mukherjee - in Katakana?
ムカージ sound a metathesis to me. I mean it's bit hard for to distinguish ムカジー,
ムカージ,ムカジ. Without the elongation ー between カ and ジ is the most natural to me.
(i.e it sounds ムカジ to me.)

As for 1. We do not distinguish Va and Ba. So it's more close to Wa as you
think.

As for 2, if you want to avoid "Liaison", I think ム is easy to separate your
given name and surname.

As for 3. it’s natural for Japanese to not pronounce the “r” sound. So never
mind.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-06-14T15:14:30.550
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2021-06-14T16:44:58.920
2021-06-14T16:44:58.920
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answer