Handout · Your Name in Hebrew Letters: The Makor Project

How to do it

Say your name slowly. Count the sounds you hear, not the letters.
Find each sound in the chart. Take the Hebrew letter under it.
Write the letters in the big box, starting at the right edge, where the arrow is, and moving left.
If the last sound is M, N, F, K, or TS, use the end-of-word shape from the bottom row.

bet

vav

gimel

dalet

hey

zayin

tet

yud

K, hard C

kuf

lamed

mem

nun

S, soft C

samekh

pey

pey (f sound)

resh

shin

tsadi

CH (Charlie)

צ׳

tsadi with a mark

ג׳

gimel with a mark

vav (closest)

tav (closest)

קס

kuf + samekh

A at the start

alef

E at the start

alef

I, EE

yud

vav

U, OO

vav

A or AH at the end

hey

end M

mem at the end

end N

nun at the end

end F / K / TS

ף ך ץ

pey, kaf, tsadi at the end

Six names, worked out

Samסם

Mayaמיה

Noahנח

Danielדניאל

Lucasלוקס

Oliviaאוליביה

Honest note: a few English sounds have no Hebrew letter of their own, so this chart gives the closest one. Most short vowels in the middle of a name are simply left out, the way a scroll leaves them out. Your name will be close enough that a Hebrew reader could sound it out, and that is how names really are written in Israel today.

My name in Hebrew letters

start here ←

✂ cut along the dashed line for the class scroll

Name card

start here ←

In English: