Type any name or word below and see it written in ogham, the early medieval alphabet of Ireland. The tool converts each English letter into its closest ogham letter, shows the result on the reading line, and breaks down every character so you can see exactly what it stands for. Because ogham was built for early Irish rather than English, a few letters are approximated, and the tool is honest about which ones. For the full background on the script, see the ogham alphabet guide.
How to use the translator
Type a name, a word, or a short phrase into the box. The ogham version appears straight away on the central stemline, bracketed by the two feather marks that traditionally show where the reading starts and ends. Use the copy button to grab the ogham text for a design, a message, or a tattoo reference, and check the breakdown underneath to see each letter and its ogham name.
The breakdown matters. Any letter shown in orange is one that ogham did not originally have, so the tool has substituted the nearest match. That way you always know which parts are a clean fit and which are an approximation.
How the translation works
Ogham is an alphabet of twenty letters, called feda, each written as a set of one to five strokes placed across or through a single guiding line, the stemline. The letters are grouped into four families of five, known as aicmí. The tool maps each English letter to the ogham letter with the same sound, so B becomes Beith, L becomes Luis, S becomes Sail, and so on.
The honest part is where English and ogham do not line up. Ogham was created for the sounds of Primitive Irish, probably in the fourth century, so several English letters have no native sign. J, K, P, V, W, X, Y and Z were simply not part of the system. For these, the tool uses the nearest sounding letter, for example K takes the sign for C, V takes the sign for F, and Z takes Straif. P uses one of the forfeda, a small set of later additions to the alphabet. None of this is wrong, but it is worth knowing that writing English in ogham is transliteration, spelling out sounds, rather than a true translation of meaning.
The ogham letters and their English values
The table below shows the twenty main letters, their traditional tree names, and the English sound each one carries. The five forfeda that came later are listed at the end.
| Ogham | Name | Tree | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᚁ | Beith | birch | B |
| ᚂ | Luis | rowan | L |
| ᚃ | Fearn | alder | F, V |
| ᚄ | Sail | willow | S |
| ᚅ | Nion | ash | N |
| ᚆ | hÚath | hawthorn | H |
| ᚇ | Dair | oak | D |
| ᚈ | Tinne | holly | T |
| ᚉ | Coll | hazel | C, K |
| ᚊ | Ceirt | apple | Q |
| ᚋ | Muin | vine | M |
| ᚌ | Gort | ivy | G |
| ᚍ | nGéadal | reed | NG |
| ᚎ | Straif | blackthorn | Z, ST |
| ᚏ | Ruis | elder | R |
| ᚐ | Ailm | fir | A |
| ᚑ | Onn | gorse | O |
| ᚒ | Úr | heather | U, W |
| ᚓ | Eadhadh | aspen | E |
| ᚔ | Iodhadh | yew | I, J, Y |
| ᚘ | Pín | none | P |
| ᚙ | Eamhancholl | none | X |
Writing your name in ogham
Traditionally, ogham on standing stones was carved along the edge and read from the bottom upward, and sometimes continuing across the top and down the other side. In manuscripts and in most modern use it is written left to right along a horizontal line, which is how the tool shows it. The stemline runs through every letter, and spaces between words are kept so the reading stays clear.
The two feather marks are a nice touch rather than a strict rule. The opening mark points into the text and the closing mark points out of it, which on a vertical stone told a reader which way to go. For a name or a short phrase they frame the writing neatly.
Is this a real translation?
Not in the strict sense, and it is fairer to call it transliteration. Ogham records sounds, so the tool spells your text letter by letter rather than converting its meaning into an Irish word. If you want genuine Irish words and phrases written in ogham, such as anam cara or a family name, look them up individually so the spelling reflects the actual Irish, not the English. The result here is accurate as a letter for letter rendering, which is exactly what most people want for a name, a keepsake, or a design.
FAQ
How do you write your name in ogham?
Write each letter of your name as its matching ogham letter, placed in order along the stemline and read from the bottom up on a stone or left to right on a line. The translator above does this for you and shows the name of every letter. For letters English has but ogham does not, such as K or Y, the nearest ogham sign is used.
Is there an ogham letter for K, P or J?
Not originally. Ogham was made for early Irish, which did not use those letters, so there is no native sign for K, J, V, W, X, Y or Z. The common solution is to borrow the nearest sound, so K uses Coll (C) and J uses Iodhadh (I). P is written with Pín, one of the forfeda, the later additions to the alphabet.
Which way is ogham read?
On the old standing stones ogham was usually read from the bottom of the edge upward. In manuscripts and modern writing it runs left to right along a horizontal stemline. The feather mark at the start points in the direction of reading, which helped when the text ran up and over a stone.
What are the ogham letters named after?
Most of the twenty letters carry the name of a tree or plant, such as Beith for birch, Dair for oak, and Sail for willow. This is why ogham is often called the Celtic tree alphabet, although a few of the names refer to other things and the tree associations were partly elaborated in later tradition.
Can I use this for a tattoo?
Yes, many people use ogham for tattoos of a name, an initial, or a meaningful word. Copy the ogham text from the tool as a reference, and double check each letter in the breakdown first, especially any letter marked as a nearest match, so the final design says exactly what you intend.