Katakana for one letter - A

Hi folks,

Just a simple, hypothetical question. If a person has the full name in his passport & birth certificate as Martin A Newman (example only for the purpose of this thread). How would you or Japanese native write the ''A'' bit in Katakana?

エイ OR エー ??? This one has got me stumped...

Do you write it as how you would pronounce it in english? - エイ as in A, B, C, D... or would you write it as how the Japanese would say it? - エー which literally is ''e'' adding the ''ー'' for emphasis which sounds like a weak ''A'' to foreign ears.

Also to make it more complex (lol), that person has lived in Japan before and found his old Japanese bank card with the katakana for ''A'' as エイ and now, the wifey translated the marriage certificate and citizenship certificate with the ''A'' as エー would this cause trouble for that person later on in the future? Considering that the past is the past and he can't remember if they used エイ OR エー on more than one occasion for other application forms like the bank.

Could the past connect with the present and affect the future in this situation? lol

Ahhh! this is confusing sorry, any thoughts anyone?

Thanks -_-;

Franklin D. Roosevelt is written as フランクリン・D・ルーズベルト, with the "D" as it is in alphabet, though it might be written as Ｄ (double byte font). I don't think we would ever write out the middle initial in katakana :)

really? you can have alphabets mixed in the katakana?

for bank accounts and official forms that need a full katakana, will this work too?

what about the situation on the last paragraph of the OP's post? how does this affect it? I'm also curious...

what's a double type font? excuse my ignorance on such matters...

"エイ" better (as same sound)
http://www.ab-road.net/

but using "エー" a lot.
http://www.fromacareer.co.jp/#/company/
http://www.abc-mart.co.jp/aboutus/gaiyo.html
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/srch/jn/エー/m0u/

So both are right for Japanese.

AK answered "no translate" as middle name
or middle name delete case a lot also right.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E6%AD%B4%E4%BB%A3%E3%82%A2%...
BC Not important as Japanese naming style.
No middle name life usual as pure Japanese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name

My European husband, who has a middle name, he has his first & family name registered with his bank (we live in Japan). When we purchased real estate, to have our names listed as joint owners (on official papers), he registered an "alias" in katakana, without his middle name, with alien registration. Come to think of it, I have never seen him use an initial for his middle name at all.

You say it's hypothetical, but is someone having difficulty with his bank account or something?

P.S.

As the poster after my post earlier said, there is no need to "translate" an alphabet (middle name initial). If you need to have your name registered on official document in Japan, all in katakana only, then you need to either (1) spell out your full middle name (meaning, not "A" but "Andy," for example), or (2) register an alias, without the middle name, and write everything in katakana.

But I believe that "katakana-only" is required only for government-related documents. For banks, probably you can just sign up only with your first & family name in katakana.

Thanks all for your replies. Really appreciate it.

AK, what if his full middle name is just the letter "A"

It's in his passport and also birth certificate and when he lived in Japan a few years ago, I'm sure on some official forms he would've used "A" as part of his first name since Japan doesn't recognise middle names for e.g.; Martin A would be his first name then Newman as his last name.

Also he told me that when he did his tax return for that particular year he was working and living in Japan, he only wrote Martin Newman, no "A" unlike his bank account name which has his full name as per his passport Martin A (エイ) Newman

My question is, will this have any negative effect and cause trouble later on when he moves to Japan again?

I'm sure the govt and any company who he had to fill out a registration form of some sort will have his name with either エイ , エー OR none at all...depending on who did the katakana conversion for him.

He's just worried that when he gets his residence card, his name would be registered with エイ OR エー and since the katakana is not on display on the new residence card he won't know what to use for other official docs. His wife is using エイ as a translation for the marriage certificate and also his Citizenship certificate for the purpose of registering his marriage in Japan. She's done it this way since he told her about his old japanese bank account name with the "A" written as エイ

D you think he should just stick with this? or won't it matter whether it's エイ OR エー since middle names don't exist in Japan. Then again looking at his passport, officials could mistake it as part of his first name - Martin A.

I'm hoping he can plead ignorance on this if worse comes to worse in the future.

Oh, I was not aware that that could be his full middle name.

If he (or his wife) has been consistently been using エイ on recent official documents, I believe it's fine he sticks with it. "Martin Newman" used in past papers is in the past, particularly that one being the tax return form only, that should be no problem at all.

At times, names are grouped into "given name(s)" - including first and middle names - and "family name" - "Newman," in your friend's case. If you think about it that way, it is no problem that some official looks at "Martin A" as his "given name(s)" together. If he is asked why he had just "Martin" in the past, he could just say, oh it did not occur to him to register his middle name, as they are not used in Japan. I don't see anything wrong with that.

By the way, Dorothy L. Sayers who I love is spelled as ドロシー・Ｌ・セイヤーズ.
Here is her books with her name in Japanese.
http://www.tsogen.co.jp/wadai/0109_04.html
And amazon in Japan.
http://goo.gl/WDjo0H