# Ryan



## jaypop28

Hi I was wondering if someone can help me. I am looking for the translation of the name Ryan, he was my nephew who died of cancer at the age of 2 and I would like to get a tattoo of his name in Arabic, as a mark of rememberence for Ryan. 
Hopefully someone can help me. Thanks.


----------



## Whodunit

My attempt:

رَايْان

Look here for the word "Ryan" in Arabic.


----------



## linguist786

I would say:

راين

with vowels:

رَايَن

I don't actually think there is another possibility really..
I have just tried it on Google and it works. _Ryan Giggs_ (famous footballer) comes up, so there you go


----------



## ayed

Could it be :
*رايان*


----------



## cherine

Yes, I agree with Whodunit and Ayed. It's  رايان


----------



## elroy

I, in turn, agree with Linguist - *راين* is how I would spell it.  However, I would use a kasra in the vowelized version - *رَايِن*.

The schwa sound between the "y" and the "a" is not long enough to be represented with an alif in writing.


----------



## Chaabane

but ryan ريان is also an arabic (male) name : it is one of the door of paradise (the one for fasters).


----------



## cherine

No, there's a difference between Rayyaan and Rayan 
Maybe, to avoid such confusion, we should transcribe Rayan like this رايان


----------



## linguist786

cherine said:


> No, there's a difference between Rayyaan and Rayan
> Maybe, to avoid such confusion, we should transcribe Rayan like this رايان


But if it is written like that, then it would be read "raa-yaan". The name "Ryan" is not pronounced like that, it is pronounced "raa-yan" (like elroy said, it is a schwa sound). 

(/ræyən/ = phonemic transcription, if you are savvy about the International Phonetic Alphabet) .

I don't understand the purpose of the second alif..

edit - look at this


----------



## elroy

Welcome to the forums, Chaabane.  ​ 
Yes, ريان is an Arabic name, but I fail to see how that’s relevant here. ​
I continue to insist on راين as the transliteration of “Ryan.” I would pronounce it “Raa-y*e*n” in English (maybe “Raa-y*a*n” is a more British pronunciation) but either way, the second vowel sound is a schwa (which probably explains the flexibility in pronunciation) and not a long vowel.


----------



## Whodunit

"Daniel" is written als دانيال, although the "e" is too short to be represented by an alif.


----------



## elroy

دانيال is not a phonetic transliteration of "Daniel."  It is the Arabic version of the name and is pronounced "Daanyaal."  

There is no Arabic version of "Ryan" so we have to transliterate it phonetically.


----------



## MohamedM

If I may suggest, I think it is راين ... 

RayaAn is ريان ...

P.S. Meg Ryan's article on the wiki needs fixing... and by the way I use ellipsis excessively!


----------



## Hibou57

MohamedM said:


> If I may suggest, I think it is راين[...]


But it would be pronounced Rayn... and it must be Ryan



			
				Chaabane said:
			
		

> but ryan ريان is also an arabic (male) name : it is one of the door of paradise (the one for fasters).


I agree...



			
				Elroy said:
			
		

> is not a phonetic transliteration of "Daniel."


Even then if it was a transliteration, it would written this way as well... there is no usage of short vowel with transliterated surnames

But, I wonder why you all seem to be so sure that Ryan is not derived from Rayan ? When surnames are imported from Arabic, there are often modified... Why are you sure it is not Rayan ?

Anyway... I've found that ريان is extremly more common than راين


----------



## Hibou57

linguist786 said:


> edit - look at this



And on other side, look at this Linguist : A page about Ryan Babel.


----------



## mujahid7ia

I think the original spelling proposed by Whodunit looks like it's the most accurate transliteration.

Anyway, guys, get it right, because it's a tattoo, and it's permanent!!


----------



## suma

first just curious, why an Arabic tattoo? was your nephew of Arab descent?

secondly Ryan is going to be a difficult one to transliterate precisely here is why

راين    could be pronounced as Rine like wine, because the alif and yaa like that are typically used in Arabic script to transcribe the long i sound of English words

رايان   whereas this spelling could be pronounced as Raayaan

then there is this awkward looking spelling  راي ين


----------



## DrLindenbrock

Not that my opinion is an authoritative one, but I would spell Ryan as راين ... I would have put a fatHa over the yA2 but a kasra sounds good too...
To make a long story short, I agree with Elroy's explanation on this, and I agree with Linguist that - since the stress in Ryan is on the first vowel and not on the second, a spelling with an alif between the yA2 and the nUn wouldn't render the sound properly.

As for what Mujahid7ia says...



mujahid7ia said:


> I think the original spelling proposed by Whodunit looks like it's the most accurate transliteration.
> 
> Anyway, guys, get it right, because it's a tattoo, and it's permanent!!


 
... I disagree.
A "long A" in Arabic is "composed" of a fatHa plus an alif.
E.g. بَابٌ /bAb/ (the first word I learned!   ).
So, a spelling like Whodunit's رَايْان doesn't really make sense to me... an alef following a sukuun certainly doesn't tell me it's a long A!  

I think they were other threads were I expressed the following concept, and there seemed to be a general agreement on what I said...if I'm wrong I beg you (especially natives) to correct me.

So (here's the concept, finally  ), as we all know, in Arabic there are 3 long vowels: A, I, U.
They are formed by a short vowel + "something" that "extends" them:
so, A is "produced" by: fatHa + alif
I is "produced" by: kasra + yA2
U is "produced" by Damma + wAw

Enjoy posting


----------



## linguist786

DrLindenbrock said:


> So, a spelling like Whodunit's رَايْان doesn't really make sense to me... an alef following a sukuun certainly doesn't tell me it's a long A!


I agree! رَايْان just looks so wrong to me. I don't think you can ever have a "X plus alif" with the X having a sukuun! If you get what I mean..



> So (here's the concept, finally  ), as we all know, in Arabic there are 3 long vowels: A, I, U.
> They are formed by a short vowel (normal letter, in other words) + "something" that "extends" them:
> so, A is "produced" by: fatHa + alif
> I is "produced" by: kasra + yA2
> U is "produced" by Damma + wAw


Yes, that's basically it. The exception being alif, where we use alif-madd (آ) and hamza, where there is nothing.


----------



## CarlosPerezMartinez

Just a crazy try:  

*راي ـ أن*

What do you think?


----------



## mujahid7ia

DrLindenbrock said:


> So, a spelling like Whodunit's رَايْان doesn't really make sense to me... an alef following a sukuun certainly doesn't tell me it's a long A!



For some reason I was reading that alif after the ya as if it was a hamza.

So I think راي أن is pretty accurate, the same as CarlosPerezMartinez suggested above.


----------

