Matthew in Japanese Kanji
Matthew in kanji: 真珠 — one way to write Matthew, with meanings you choose yourself, in the Japanese ateji (当て字) tradition.
In Japanese, Matthew is usually written マシュー (mashū)
真珠 is an artistic ateji — chosen for sound and meaning, not an official spelling.
For anything permanent, have a native speaker check it.
Reviewed by Hitomi Kuga, Japanese-language teacher
真珠 — “truth · pearl”
Matthew sounds like ma · shu in Japanese. Matching each sound to a kanji gives 真珠 — one of 12 possible kanji spellings of Matthew. Every character below has the same or closest Japanese sound but a different meaning, so the final choice is yours.
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How Matthew becomes kanji
| Sound | Kanji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ma | 真 | truth |
| shu | 珠 | pearl |
Every kanji choice for Matthew
Pick a different character for any syllable — love, dreams, strength, light — and the art updates instantly in the generator.
“ma” — 4 kanji to choose from
“shu” — 3 kanji to choose from
Tattoo, gift & wall art ideas
真珠 makes striking vertical calligraphy — a popular choice for a kanji name tattoo, a personalised Japanese name gift, or framed wall art. Because you can read this page, you (and your tattoo artist) know exactly what each character means — no mystery kanji.
Questions about Matthew in kanji
There is no single official kanji for Matthew. This is one sound-based ateji (当て字) option: 真珠, read as "ma-shu", with the meanings "truth · pearl". You can swap a character for another with the same or closest Japanese sound: Matthew has 12 possible kanji spellings in this generator.
It can be a starting point for a tattoo design. Because tattoos are permanent, we recommend having both the katakana (マシュー) and the kanji checked by a native Japanese speaker before committing.
Character by character, 真珠 reads 真 ("truth", read as "ma"), 珠 ("pearl", read as "shu"). Together they sound like "Matthew" while carrying the meanings truth · pearl.
Japanese uses four scripts side by side: kanji for meaning, hiragana and katakana for sound, and rōmaji for the Latin alphabet. A Japanese person writing a foreign name by ear reaches for katakana, which records the sound but carries no meaning — kanji is the meaning-based art form this site uses instead, in the ateji (当て字) tradition.
No — in everyday Japan, foreign names are written in katakana, which is why it's shown beneath every artwork here. The kanji version is ateji (当て字): an artistic portrait of a name chosen for sound and meaning, not an official translation, so anything permanent should be checked by a native speaker first.