How to spell the name Yana?


[ˈjanə] I was wondering if it's spelled ヤナ, or maybe because the stress is on
the first syllable there should be a dash board: ヤーナ?




Depending on how much Japanese you already know, my answer might come as a
surprise. I am going to say that either 「ヤナ」 or 「ヤーナ」 would be fine so long as
**_you_** yourself are comfortable with it.

Unlike the far more commonly seen or heard katakana names such as
「スミス」、「ジョン」、「イザベル」, etc. that are already widely recognized by the general
public as "correct", **_very_** few people (if anyone at all) would feel
strange upon seeing or hearing either 「ヤナ」 or 「ヤーナ」. If the "ya" part of
"Yana" is elongated enough in your native language, then you might take the
latter.

Katakanizing foreign proper nouns is not rocket science; It is basically
phonetic approximation. The example I always use when talking about this is
the name " **Charles** ". As an English name, we write it as 「 **チャールズ** 」 and
as a French name, 「 **シャルル** 」. The original alphabet spelling has little to
nothing to do with the katakanization. It is the pronunciation that actually
counts.




Your first guess was correct, it would be ヤナ. If the romanized name was
something like Yaana then it would be written ヤーナ to stress the longer sound.

