About KanjiYa
KanjiYa writes your name in Japanese — in Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana — and prints it on a T-shirt made just for you.
How we choose your Kanji
- We start from the sound. Not the spelling, but how your name is actually pronounced (IPA). If your name has more than one pronunciation, you can switch between them.
- Then Katakana. We write that sound in Katakana, the script Japanese uses for foreign names.
- Then Kanji that sound the same. For each sound, we look for Kanji read the same way, and favor characters that are common and have good meanings. This is called ateji (当て字) — the same way Japanese once wrote “coffee” as 珈琲 and “America” as 亜米利加.
You can explore other combinations and check the meaning of every character before you choose.
A note on meaning
Because these Kanji are chosen for their sound, they aren’t a translation or an official Japanese name — they’re a creative way to write your name. The meanings we show are each character’s general meaning.
The T-shirt
We print on the Unisex Staple T-Shirt by Bella + Canvas (3001). Each shirt is printed to order by our print partner, Printful, and shipped free within the US. What you see in the preview is how it will be printed.