Write your name in hieroglyphs
Pharaohs wrote their names inside an oval called a cartouche. Type your name and see it spelled with the hieroglyph alphabet, by sound.
How your name is spelled
Egyptian had about two dozen signs that each stand for one sound. The tool takes your name sound by sound and picks the sign for each one. Egyptian writing left most vowels out, but when scribes wrote foreign names, the Greek names of the Ptolemies for example, they spelled the vowels with the vulture, the reed and the quail chick. Your name gets the same treatment.
Some letters had no sign of their own. Egyptian had no l, so the lion stands in for it, as it does in Cleopatra's name. C and k share the basket, f and v share the horned viper, and x is written k plus s.
The alphabet it uses
A real cartouche beside the tool's
Cleopatra's name as it was carved on her monuments, and as the tool spells "Cleopatra" today. The lion, reed, quail chick, stool, vulture and mouth are the same. Her scribes wrote the k with a hill slope and the first t with a hand, then closed the name with a loaf, the feminine ending, and an egg, a silent sign for a woman's name.
Read Cleopatra's names sign by sign or see the full guide to writing your name.
Questions
Is this how an ancient Egyptian would have written my name?
Close to how they wrote foreign names. Greek rulers such as Ptolemy and Cleopatra had their names spelled sound by sound with the one-sound signs, vowels included, and the tool does the same for yours. A native Egyptian name would also carry signs for whole words and a silent sign at the end.
Why does my name have fewer signs than letters?
Egyptian wrote a doubled sound once, so Anna takes three signs. Pairs such as sh, kh and ch have a sign of their own, and a c before e, i or y is spelled as an s.
Which way do I read a cartouche?
Toward the faces. If the birds and the lion look left, start on the left. If they look right, start on the right. Signs stacked on top of each other are read from the top down.
Who was allowed a cartouche?
Kings, queens and some royal children. Ordinary Egyptians wrote their names without the oval.