Transliterating Russian: ICAO and BGN/PCGN
The same Russian name can be Iuliia or Yuliya in Latin letters. Each spelling comes from a system made for a purpose: passports, maps or libraries. This guide compares the two systems the converter uses, letter by letter.
Why There Are Several Systems
Russian has 33 letters and Latin has 26, so some Russian letters need two or more Latin letters or marks. Systems solve this in different ways. A passport system has to use only A to Z; a place-name system aims at spellings English readers can pronounce; a standard for information and library work, such as GOST 7.79-2000, aims at text that can be turned back into Cyrillic.
Letter by Letter
| Letter | ICAO | BGN/PCGN |
|---|---|---|
| А а | A | a |
| Б б | B | b |
| В в | V | v |
| Г г | G | g |
| Д д | D | d |
| Е е | E | e, ye* |
| Ё ё | E | ë, yë* |
| Ж ж | ZH | zh |
| З з | Z | z |
| И и | I | i |
| Й й | I | y |
| К к | K | k |
| Л л | L | l |
| М м | M | m |
| Н н | N | n |
| О о | O | o |
| П п | P | p |
| Р р | R | r |
| С с | S | s |
| Т т | T | t |
| У у | U | u |
| Ф ф | F | f |
| Х х | KH | kh |
| Ц ц | TS | ts |
| Ч ч | CH | ch |
| Ш ш | SH | sh |
| Щ щ | SHCH | shch |
| Ъ ъ | IE | ” |
| Ы ы | Y | y |
| Ь ь | — | ’ |
| Э э | E | e |
| Ю ю | IU | yu |
| Я я | IA | ya |
* ye and yë at the start of a word and after a vowel, й, ъ or ь (BGN/PCGN notes 1 and 2). The ICAO table has no row for ь, so it is left out.
ICAO Doc 9303: Passports
ICAO Doc 9303 is the specification for machine-readable travel documents. Part 3, section 6.B lists the transliterations of Cyrillic letters that ICAO recommends to states. For Russian the result has only the letters A to Z: ю is IU, я is IA, й is I, ъ is IE, and ё is E like е. Юлия becomes IULIIA and Наталья becomes NATALIA. These spellings look unusual to English readers but use only the letters of an English keyboard.
BGN/PCGN: Place Names
The BGN/PCGN system was adopted by the US Board on Geographic Names in 1944 and by the UK Permanent Committee on Geographical Names in 1947. The UK government publishes it with examples, last checked in November 2022. It writes й and ы as y, ю as yu and я as ya, and е as ye at the start of a word and after a vowel: Екатеринбург is Yekaterinburg, Змеевка is Zmeyevka. It keeps ь and ъ as the apostrophes ’ and ”, and ё as ë. An optional note separates unusual pairs with a middle dot (t·s).
Names Compared
| Russian | ICAO | BGN/PCGN |
|---|---|---|
| Юлия | Iuliia | Yuliya |
| Наталья | Natalia | Natal’ya |
| Татьяна | Tatiana | Tat’yana |
| Ксения | Kseniia | Kseniya |
| Пётр | Petr | Pëtr |
| Фёдор | Fedor | Fëdor |
| Сергей | Sergei | Sergey |
| Дмитрий | Dmitrii | Dmitriy |
| Евгений | Evgenii | Yevgeniy |
| Екатерина | Ekaterina | Yekaterina |
| Щукин | Shchukin | Shchukin |
| Подъячев | Podieiachev | Pod”yachev |
| Хабаровск | Khabarovsk | Khabarovsk |
| Екатеринбург | Ekaterinburg | Yekaterinburg |
GOST 7.79-2000 and Other Systems
Russia's GOST 7.79-2000, based on ISO 9:1995, is listed as in force on the portal of Rosstandart, the national standards agency. Its stated aim is an unambiguous transliteration that can be turned back into Cyrillic, not one that shows the sound of the words. Its text could not be opened on the portal, so its tables are not in the converter. The US Library of Congress publishes yet another table for library catalogues (ALA-LC).
Web Addresses and File Names
For a URL slug or a file name, plain letters, digits and hyphens are the safest choice. The ICAO table gives such spellings directly, which is why the slug generator uses it: «Новости компании» becomes novosti-kompanii. Whatever system you pick, use it for the whole site so that each word keeps one spelling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which system is correct?
Each one is correct for its purpose. For a name in a passport, ticket or visa, copy the spelling printed in the passport; for place names in English texts, BGN/PCGN is the system of the US and UK names boards.
Why does ICAO write Юлия as Iuliia?
The table gives IU for ю and IA for я, so that every letter becomes A to Z without a choice. Iuliia is the result of that rule, not a mistake.
Is ё the same as е?
In the ICAO table both are E. BGN/PCGN writes ë, so Пётр is Petr by ICAO and Pëtr by BGN/PCGN. Many Russian texts print ё without its dots, which a converter cannot detect.
Can the same tables be used for Ukrainian?
No. Ukrainian has its own letters and rules; in the ICAO table, for example, Ukrainian г is H, not G. The converter changes only Russian letters.
Sources
Source: ICAO Doc 9303 Part 3, 6.B · Last checked:
Source: BGN/PCGN 1947 System for Russian (PCGN, 2022) · Last checked: