Which scheme should I use?

For official Russian travel documents use the Passport scheme. ISO 9 gives a strict reversible one-letter-per-letter mapping for libraries and databases. BGN/PCGN is the readable English-oriented standard used on maps. GOST 7.79 System B is an ASCII-only reversible system for technical use.

How do the schemes treat ъ and ь?

They differ a lot: ISO 9 maps ъ to a double prime and ь to a prime, GOST System B uses double and single apostrophes, BGN/PCGN renders ъ as a double quote and ь as a single quote, and the passport rules drop both signs entirely.

Why does й come out differently in each?

й is a classic divergence point. ISO 9 uses j, GOST System B uses j, BGN/PCGN uses y, and the passport scheme uses i. Choosing the wrong scheme for a name on an official form is a common cause of mismatches.

Is the transliteration reversible?

ISO 9 and GOST 7.79 System B are designed to be reversible, so the original Cyrillic can be reconstructed unambiguously. BGN/PCGN and the passport scheme favour readability and are not strictly reversible, since several Cyrillic letters can map to the same Latin output.

Is my text uploaded anywhere?

No. All four mapping tables are bundled into the page and conversion happens in your browser. The names or text you enter never leave your device, so personal data stays private.

Russian Romanization (Transliteration)

Email me this result

Get this tool's output sent to your inbox, plus one useful tool a week. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

The Russian Romanization tool converts Cyrillic into the Latin alphabet under four widely used standards. There is no single correct way to romanize Russian — libraries, mapmakers, and passport offices each chose different rules — so the same name can be spelled several ways. This tool lets you pick the scheme your form, database, or document requires.

How it works

Each scheme is a per-letter mapping table applied across your text. The interesting differences live in a handful of letters:

й: ISO 9 and GOST System B → j; BGN/PCGN → y; Passport → i.
ъ (hard sign): ISO 9 → ʺ; GOST B → ''; BGN/PCGN → ʺ; Passport → dropped.
ь (soft sign): ISO 9 → ʹ; GOST B → '; BGN/PCGN → ʹ; Passport → dropped.
щ: ISO 9 → ŝ; GOST B → shh; BGN/PCGN → shch; Passport → shch.
х: ISO 9 → h; GOST B → x; BGN/PCGN and Passport → kh.

ISO 9 and GOST System B are strictly reversible (one Latin token per Cyrillic letter), while BGN/PCGN and the passport rules trade reversibility for English readability.

Tips and notes

For a name on an official Russian travel document, choose Passport — using ISO 9 there will produce a spelling the authorities do not recognise.
For catalogues and databases that must round-trip back to Cyrillic, use ISO 9 or GOST System B.
Letter case is preserved: an upper-case Cyrillic letter yields an upper-case (or title-case) Latin equivalent, so proper nouns stay capitalised.