Correct romanization for ベオウルフ (Beowulf) and the use of ō


I want to know the correct romanization for ベオウルフ.

For me, it's Beōrufu, because the pronunciation of Be-o-wulf has a long vowel
(oo/ou/ow/oh). However, some people discord for being a foreign name.




Firstly, using the macron for indicating long vowels is only really used in
(Revised) Hepburn romanization, so "correct" would mean "according to the
rules of Hepburn romanization".

Secondly, Hepburn only uses ō for _long_ vowels and here there isn't one! One
way that points to this fact is that the word in katakana isn't spelled オー,
but オウ.

Actually, ベオウルフ is a good transcription because for one it reflects the fact
that the ウ is a substitution for "wu" (definitely not a lengthener of "o");
further, it suggest the pitch as ベオウルフ【LHHLL】, whereas ベオールフ would have to be
ベオールフ【LHLLL】 (the former is much closer to the English pronunciation, which
has a secondary stress at "wu").

In any case, I think you should romanize ベオウルフ as _beourufu_ in Hepburn and as
_beouruhu_ in Nihon-shiki/Kunrei-shiki/Wāpuro.

