Official Ukrainian transliteration table
Several systems are used by organisations around the world for the transliteration of the Ukrainian alphabet (and those of other Slavonic languages using the Cyrillic script) into the Roman script (“romanisation”). The current official Ukrainian transliteration table, reproduced below, was approved in 2010 by a Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. It essentially provides a correspondence between the letters of the Ukrainian alphabet and letters used to represent the equivalent sounds in written English.
| Ukrainian | Transliteration | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| А а | A a | Алушта Андрій |
Alushta Andrii |
| Б б | B b | Борщагівка Борисенко |
Borshchahivka Borysenko |
| В в | V v | Вінниця Володимир |
Vinnytsia Volodymyr |
| Г г | H h (note 1) |
Гадяч Богдан Згурський |
Hadiach Bohdan Zghurskyi |
| Ґ ґ | G g | Ґалаґан Ґорґани |
Galagan Gorgany |
| Д д | D d | Донецьк Дмитро |
Donetsk Dmytro |
| Е е | E e | Рівне Олег Есьмань |
Rivne Oleh Esman |
| Є є | Ye - beginning of word ie - elsewhere |
Єнакієве Гаєвич Короп'є |
Yenakiieve Haievych Koropie |
| Ж ж | Zh zh | Житомир Жанна Жежелів |
Zhytomyr Zhanna Zhezheliv |
| З з | Z z | Закарпаття Казимирчук |
Zakarpattia Kazymyrchuk |
| И и | Y y | Медвин Михайленко |
Medvyn Mykhailenko |
| І і | I i | Іванків Іващенко |
Ivankiv Ivashchenko |
| Ї ї | Yi - beginning of word i - elsewhere |
Їжакевич Кадиївка Мар'їне |
Yizhakevych Kadyivka Marine |
| Й й | Y - beginning of word i - elsewhere |
Йосипівка Стрий Олексій |
Yosypivka Stryi Oleksii |
| К к | K k | Київ Коваленко |
Kyiv Kovalenko |
| Л л | L l | Лебедин Леонід |
Lebedyn Leonid |
| М м | M m | Миколаїв Маринич |
Mykolaiv Marynych |
| Н н | N n | Ніжин Наталія |
Nizhyn Nataliia |
| О о | O o | Одеса Онищенко |
Odesa Onyshchenko |
| П п | P p | Полтава Петро |
Poltava Petro |
| Р р | R r | Решетилівка Рибчинський |
Reshetylivka Rybchynskyi |
| С с | S s | Суми Соломія |
Sumy Solomiia |
| Т т | T t | Тернопіль Троць |
Ternopil Trots |
| У у | U u | Ужгород Уляна |
Uzhhorod Uliana |
| Ф ф | F f | Фастів Філіпчук |
Fastiv Filipchuk |
| Х х | Kh kh | Харків Христина |
Kharkiv Khrystyna |
| Ц ц | Ts ts | Біла Церква Стеценко |
Bila Tserkva Stetsenko |
| Ч ч | Ch ch | Чернівці Шевченко |
Chernivtsi Shevchenko |
| Ш ш | Sh sh | Шостка Кишеньки |
Shostka Kyshenky |
| Щ щ | Shch shch | Щербухи Гоща Гаращенко |
Shcherbukhy Hoshcha Harashchenko |
| Ю ю | Yu - beginning of word iu - elsewhere |
Юрій Корюківка |
Yurii Koriukivka |
| Я я | Ya - beginning of word ia - elsewhere |
Яготин Ярошенко Костянтин Знам'янка Феодосія |
Yahotyn Yaroshenko Kostiantyn Znamianka Feodosiia |
Notes
- The letter combination "зг" is transliterated as
"zgh" (e.g. Згорани – Zghorany,
Розгон – Rozghon) as opposed to "zh", which represents the Ukrainian letter ж. - The Ukrainian soft sign (ь) and apostrophe are not transliterated.
Spelling of Ukrainian personal names
In cases where the customary Roman-script spelling of a person’s Ukrainian name is known (e.g. from official documents, publications authored by the individual, a memorial inscription, etc), then this spelling is used in the encyclopaedia. In other cases personal names are transliterated in accordance with the above official Ukrainian transliteration table.
Several factors may have affected the way in which a person’s customary Roman-script spelling became established. In many cases the person will have transliterated their name (or the name may have been transliterated by officials) into a Roman-script language other than English. This applies, for example, in the case of Ukrainians originating from lands which were part of the Polish state between the two world wars. Their names were generally transliterated into Polish. Names in foreign passports issued in the Soviet Union were transliterated into French. Some individuals living in German-speaking countries before coming to the UK had their names transliterated into German. Some Ukrainian names were transliterated not directly from the Ukrainian, but from their Polish, Russian or other equivalents. Some people avoided transliteration altogether and anglicised their names (forenames, surnames, or both), as in Петро (Petro) – Peter.
The following table shows the main differences between the transliteration of Ukrainian letters according to the English-oriented Official Ukrainian transliteration table and transliterations into Polish, French and German.
| English-oriented | Polish | French | German | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| в | v | w | w | |
| ж | zh | ż | j | sch, sh |
| з | z | z | s | |
| й | Y, i | j | j | |
| у | u | ou | ||
| х | kh | ch | ch | |
| ц | ts | c | z, ts | |
| ч | ch | cz | tch | tsch |
| ш | sh | sz | ch | sch |
| щ | shch | szcz | chtch | schtsch |