Phonetic Spelling Generator
Free, for names and words · Published · Cantoro
Type a name or a word and get it spelled the way it sounds: syllables split by hyphens, the stressed one in capitals. Siobhan becomes shih-VAWN, Joaquín wah-KEEN, Penelope puh-NEL-uh-pee. Hear it with your browser's voice, copy it, or give it to an AI singer so a song says the name right.
Try Saoirse, Xavier, Nguyen, Hermione or your own name.
Hear the name sung in a song
Select Use in a song above and the spelling goes into the generator below, in "How it sounds": the AI singer reads your spelling while the lyrics keep the real name. You hear the first 60 seconds of both versions free, then keep the whole song for $4.99, paid once.
How to read the spelling
A hyphen starts a new syllable and capitals mark the one you stress: oh-LIV-ee-uh. The letters are read the plain English way, so "ee" is the sound in see and "ay" the sound in day.
Show every sound (20)
| Written | Sounds like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Hyphen | a new syllable | shih-VAWN |
| CAPITALS | the stressed syllable | oh-LIV-ee-uh |
| ah | as in father | wah-KEEN |
| a | as in cat | DAL-uhs |
| aw | as in law | KEER-awn |
| ay | as in day | ZAY-vee-er |
| ee | as in see | NEEV |
| e / eh | as in bed | JEN-uh-fer |
| i / ih | as in sit | KRIS-muhs |
| eye, y, i…e | as in eye, my, nine | EYE-luh, RY-uhn |
| oh | as in go | KLOH-duh |
| oo | as in food | hay-SOOS |
| uu | as in book | BUUK |
| ow | as in now | TSOW |
| oy | as in boy | VOY-chekh |
| uh / u | as in about, cup | puh-NEL-uh-pee |
| ur / er | as in her, butter | BURTH-day |
| th | as in thin or this | DAV-ith |
| zh | as in vision | a-nuh-STAY-zhuh |
| kh | a throaty h, as in Scottish loch | VOY-chekh |
Phonetic spellings of names people often get wrong
How each name is usually said where it comes from, and a spelling to type for an AI singer. Families say their own names their own way, so ask if you can. "Tested" means we made a song on this site with that spelling and listened to every line with the name.
Show all 89 names
| Name | Say it | For a singer | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siobhán | shih-VAWN | Shivawn tested | Irish |
| Niamh | NEEV | Neev | Irish |
| Saoirse | SEER-shuh | Seersha | Irish |
| Aoife | EE-fuh | Eefa | Irish |
| Caoimhe | KEE-vuh | Keeva | Irish |
| Sinéad | shih-NAYD | Shinade | Irish |
| Gráinne | GRAWN-yuh | Grawnya | Irish |
| Oisín | uh-SHEEN | Usheen | Irish |
| Ciara | KEER-uh | Keera | Irish |
| Ciarán | KEER-awn | Keerawn | Irish |
| Róisín | roh-SHEEN | Rosheen | Irish |
| Eoin | OH-in | Owen | Irish |
| Pádraig | PAW-drig | Pawdrig | Irish |
| Clodagh | KLOH-duh | Kloda | Irish |
| Aisling | ASH-ling | Ashling | Irish |
| Cathal | KA-hul | Kahal | Irish |
| Fiadh | FEE-uh | Feea | Irish |
| Méabh | MAYV | Maeve | Irish |
| Dearbhla | DERV-luh | Dervla | Irish |
| Eimear | EE-mer | Eemer | Irish |
| Ailbhe | AL-vuh | Alva | Irish |
| Bronagh | BROH-nuh | Brona | Irish |
| Aoibheann | EE-vun | Eevun | Irish |
| Eilidh | AY-lee | Aylee | Scottish |
| Mhairi | VAH-ree | Vahree | Scottish |
| Siân | SHAHN | Shahn | Welsh |
| Rhys | REES | Reese | Welsh |
| Dafydd | DAV-ith | Davith | Welsh |
| Cerys | KER-is | Keris | Welsh |
| Ffion | FEE-on | Feeon | Welsh |
| Joaquín | wah-KEEN | Wah-keen tested | Spanish |
| Jesús | hay-SOOS | Haysoos | Spanish |
| Javier | hah-VYAIR | Hahvyair | Spanish |
| Jorge | HOR-hay | Horhay | Spanish |
| José | hoh-SAY | Hosay | Spanish |
| Juan | HWAHN | Hwahn | Spanish |
| Ximena | hee-MEH-nuh | Heemena | Spanish |
| Xóchitl | SOH-cheel | Socheel | Nahuatl, Mexico |
| Guillermo | gee-YAIR-moh | Geeyairmo | Spanish |
| Alejandro | ah-leh-HAHN-droh | Alehandro | Spanish |
| Itzel | EET-sel | Eetsel | Maya, Mexico |
| Rocío | roh-SEE-oh | Roseeo | Spanish |
| Guadalupe | gwah-dah-LOO-pay | Gwadaloopay | Spanish |
| Raúl | rah-OOL | Raool | Spanish |
| Inés | ee-NES | Eeness | Spanish |
| Jaime | HY-meh | Hymeh | Spanish |
| Margaux | mar-GOH | Margo | French |
| Thibault | tee-BOH | Teebo | French |
| Amélie | ah-may-LEE | Ahmaylee | French |
| Benoît | ben-WAH | Benwah | French |
| Anaïs | ah-nah-EES | Ahnaees | French |
| Hélène | ay-LEN | Aylen | French |
| Laurent | loh-RAHN | Lorahn | French |
| Mathieu | mat-YUH | Matyuh | French |
| Giuseppe | joo-ZEP-peh | Joozeppeh | Italian |
| Chiara | KYAH-rah | Kyahra | Italian |
| Giovanni | joh-VAHN-nee | Jovahnee | Italian |
| Niccolò | nee-koh-LOH | Neekolo | Italian |
| Jürgen | YUR-gen | Yurgen | German |
| Wolfgang | VOLF-gahng | Volfgahng | German |
| Johann | YOH-hahn | Yohahn | German |
| Wojciech | VOY-chekh | Voychek | Polish |
| Krzysztof | KSHISH-tof | Kshishtof | Polish |
| Agnieszka | ag-NYESH-kah | Agnyeshka | Polish |
| Łukasz | WOO-kash | Wookash | Polish |
| Małgorzata | mow-goh-ZHAH-tah | Mowgozhata | Polish |
| Zbigniew | ZBEEG-nyef | Zbeegnyef | Polish |
| Nguyen | WIN | Win | Vietnamese (a common English way to say it) |
| Thuy | TWEE | Twee | Vietnamese |
| Xiaoling | shyow-LING | Shyowling | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Xin | SHIN | Shin | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Qian | CHYEN | Chyen | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Zhou | JOH | Joe | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Xu | SHOO | Shoo | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Qi | CHEE | Chee | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Zhang | JAHNG | Jahng | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Cao | TSOW | Tsow | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Jiahui | jyah-HWAY | Jyahhway | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| Lakshmi | LUKSH-mee | Lukshmee | Indian |
| Shreya | SHRAY-uh | Shraya | Indian |
| Saanvi | SAHN-vee | Sahnvee | Indian |
| Chaim | HY-eem | Hyeem | Hebrew |
| Hermione | her-MY-oh-nee | Hermyonee | Greek, English |
| Persephone | per-SEF-uh-nee | Persefunee | Greek, English |
| Isla | EYE-luh | Eyela | Scottish, English |
| Leigh | LEE | Lee | English |
| Seán | SHAWN | Shawn | Irish, English |
| Xavier | ZAY-vee-er | Zayvier | English |
| Nevaeh | neh-VAY-uh | Nevaya | English |
What happened when we tested it
We made the same birthday song three times on this site, changing only the name. With "Siobhan" typed in the name box, a speech recognizer heard the name lines of the two versions as "See your vibe", "C.O. Bun", "Chauvin" and "Show bun", and as "Siobhan" only twice. With "Shivawn" typed in the name box instead, it heard "Siobhan" in 11 of 14 name lines of the better version, and "She won" in the rest. With the name box left as Siobhan and "Shivawn" in How it sounds, it heard "She won", "Chivon" and "Siobhan": never the "see-oh-ban" the letters suggest.
Joaquín worked as typed in one of two versions; with "Wah-keen" both versions mostly came out as the real name. The full test, with the songs to play, is on how to get an AI song to say a name right.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Look up as many names and words as you like, with no account and no limit. It runs in your browser. Only the song further down the page is paid: the first 60 seconds of it are free too, and keeping it is $4.99.
Where do the spellings come from?
For about ninety names that English readers often get wrong (Irish, Welsh, Spanish, Polish, Chinese and more), from our own list of how each is usually said where it comes from. For everything else, from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary of about 126,000 English words and names, turned into syllables with the stress marked. The dictionary is American English, so a name from another language can come back the way Americans tend to say it.
How do I use it with Suno or another AI song tool?
Where the name goes in your lyrics, type the spelling instead (Shivawn, not Siobhan) and keep that same spelling everywhere in the song. If the name still comes out wrong, try a second spelling of the same sounds and change nothing else, so you know which change helped. On this site you don't have to change your lyrics: the spelling goes in "How it sounds", the singer reads it, and the lyrics keep the real name.
Why are some letters in capitals?
The capitals mark the syllable you lean on: oh-LIV-ee-uh, not OH-liv-ee-uh. AI singers tend to stress what looks like the main part of a word, so a spelling with the right shape helps, though the melody can still move the stress.
My name isn't found. What now?
Write it the way it sounds with ordinary English letters, one syllable at a time, like "Kee-va" for Caoimhe, and press Hear it to check it with your browser's voice. Spellings that use common English words ("Lee", "Shawn", "Win") are read the most reliably.
Is the browser voice what the singer will sound like?
No. Hear it uses the voice built into your phone or computer, to check the sounds of a spelling. A singer stretches syllables to fit the tune, so hear the song too: you get two versions, and you can keep the one that says the name best.
About the dictionary
Spellings for words not in our name list come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, copyright © 1993–2015 Carnegie Mellon University, used under its licence. We turn its sound codes into the spellings above; any mistakes in that are ours.