Transliterate Russian Names and Text to Latin Letters

A free online tool for transliterating Russian from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. It converts names and text in 9 standards at once — the Russian passport rules (МВД №864 / ICAO), GOST 7.79, BGN/PCGN, ALA-LC and more — so you can compare them, see exactly where they differ, convert Latin back to Cyrillic, and export a printable name card.

How to use it

1
Enter a name or text

Use the three “Full name” fields for a passport-style name, or switch to “Free text” for any word or sentence.

2
Read all 9 results

The comparison panel shows the same input in every standard. The passport standard is selected by default.

3
Compare and choose

Turn on “Highlight differences” to see where standards diverge, and read the explanations to pick the right one.

4
Copy or export

Copy any single result, copy all of them, or download a PDF name card.

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Compare 9 romanization standards and pick the right Latin spelling

Surname, given name and patronymic in separate fields — best for documents.

Enter Russian text above to see all 9 transliterations.

Which standard to use, and where

Passport — МВД №864 · ICAO 9303
The standard used by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to spell names in foreign passports. Its table is identical to ICAO Doc 9303, the international machine-readable travel document standard. For a visa, always use this spelling — consulates require the visa to match the passport exactly.
Use it for
Russian foreign passport, visas, airline tickets
Source
Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia No. 864 (30.07.2020); ICAO Doc 9303
GOST R 52535.1-2006
The previous machine-readable passport standard, withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ICAO-based table. Useful for checking the spelling in an older passport.
Use it for
Biometric passports issued in 2010–2015
Source
GOST R 52535.1-2006
GOST 7.79-2000 System B (ISO 9)
The Russian national transliteration standard, System B: uses only ASCII letters and digraphs, and is fully reversible — every Latin string maps back to exactly one Cyrillic string.
Use it for
Document workflows and databases — ASCII, reversible
Source
GOST 7.79-2000, System B (ISO 9:1995)
GOST 7.79-2000 System A (ISO 9)
System A of the same standard: a strict one-letter-to-one-letter mapping using diacritics (ž, č, š, è). Fully reversible and unambiguous.
Use it for
Academic publishing and bibliographies — strict 1:1
Source
GOST 7.79-2000, System A / ISO 9:1995
Scholarly transliteration
The transliteration tradition used in linguistics and Slavic philology. Close to the German DIN 1460 standard.
Use it for
Linguistics and Slavic studies
Source
Scholarly Slavic transliteration (≈ DIN 1460)
BGN/PCGN 1947
The romanization used by the US Board on Geographic Names and the UK Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. Designed to be intuitive for English readers — it adds “y” so “е” reads naturally at the start of a word.
Use it for
Maps, atlases and English-language media
Source
BGN/PCGN 1947 Agreement (2007 revision)
ALA-LC
The American Library Association / Library of Congress romanization, used to catalogue Cyrillic-script material. Uses tie marks (t͡s, i͡u, i͡a).
Use it for
Library catalogues in the US, UK and Canada
Source
ALA-LC Romanization Tables, Russian
SWIFT / banking
A simplified ASCII table used in SWIFT and telex banking messages. Banks differ in their exact rules — for a transfer, the safest choice is the spelling in your passport.
Use it for
International bank transfers
Source
Simplified ASCII table used in SWIFT/telex messages
URL slug / web
A web-friendly form: readable ASCII only, lowercase, with hyphens instead of spaces. Not an official standard — a practical convention for the web.
Use it for
URLs, file names and usernames
Source
Web convention — readable lowercase ASCII

This tool is for reference. The authoritative Latin spelling of your name is the one printed in your passport when it is issued. Transliteration runs in your browser.

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Features

9 standards at once Verified name database Difference highlighting Reverse transliteration PDF name card Honest explanations

Frequently asked questions

Which transliteration is used for a Russian passport?

Since 2014 the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs uses the table in Order No. 864, which is identical to the international ICAO Doc 9303 standard. That is the “Passport” option here, selected by default.

Why is my name spelled in an unexpected way (Юлия → Iuliia)?

The passport standard maps ю→iu, я→ia and й→i, which often looks different from an intuitive English spelling. Iuliia, Evgenii and Dmitrii are correct passport spellings — the tool highlights these so you are not caught off guard.

Can I keep the old spelling of my name?

Yes. When applying for a passport you may submit a written request, with supporting documents (a previous passport, a visa, a birth certificate or a residence permit), asking the Ministry of Internal Affairs to keep a specific Latin spelling. This keeps your documents consistent.

Which standard should I use for a visa?

The one in your passport. A consulate requires the name on the visa to match the passport exactly, so always use the “Passport” result for visa applications.

Is ё transliterated as “e” or “yo”?

It depends on the standard — the passport standard uses “e”, GOST 7.79 System B uses “yo”. The tool transliterates exactly what you type, so type ё where you mean ё.

Is reverse transliteration exact?

Only for GOST 7.79 (ISO 9), which is designed to be reversible. For the passport, BGN/PCGN and other standards, several Cyrillic readings can produce the same Latin text, so the reverse result is a best guess and ambiguous letters are flagged.

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