Best Overall
万図
ばーんず
The most balanced reading — natural sound, clear meaning.
- 万 ten thousand
- 図 plan
Barnes in Japanese Kanji
Pronounced バーンズ · ばーんず · banzu
Elegant
伴瑞
ばーんず
Softer characters, chosen for how they look and feel on the page.
- 伴 companion
- 瑞 auspicious
Bold
盤随
ばーんず
Stronger strokes and more striking meanings.
- 盤 plate
- 随 follow
How these characters were chosen
Japanese has no letters for foreign names, so a name is first written in katakana — バーンズ — which records how it sounds. Kanji are then chosen whose readings match those sounds. Because many characters share the same reading, there is never a single correct spelling; there are only choices, and each one changes what the name says.
万図 is built from 万 (ten thousand), 図 (plan). Every character here comes from a hand-checked dictionary, and combinations that happen to spell an ordinary Japanese word are rejected before you ever see them.