Jens Hansen is the original maker of The One Ring in

Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies.

Write Your Name in Elvish in 5 Minutes

We are not experts on the use, translation and writing of elvish languages. With all languages and handwriting
including elvish there is more than one acceptable way to apply grammar and write words and letters. So we offer
this cheat sheet and examples to show how our online English to elvish translator is programmed to operate.
http://www.jenshansen.com/pages/online-english-to-elvish-engraving-translator

Basic alphabet

A # J f S 8 i TH 3
Alternate

w z 1 a
forms
B K T CH

C z L j U `M SH d

D 2 M t V r NT 1p

E $ O N 5 W y ND 2P
When silent

F e O `N X z| As vowel
MP qp

G x P q Y n MB wP

H 9 Qu z Z k , IE h
Alternate

`B 7 6 ~
forms
I R EE
As in red As in car

Vowels (except i) Go above or Below the consonants they precede

The most important thing is that vowels go above (or below) the consonants. Thats what the gray arrows
signify in the alphabet shown above. You can put the vowels above the letter they follow (Quenya style) or above the
letter they precede (Sindarin style). Take your pick. We use the Sindarin style. Look at the worked examples below to
see it in action. Thats it. (If you want details about where this all comes from, look at the references at the end).
Examples
1. Write the name: ROBERT.
2. Shift the vowels up and to the right, so they are above the letters they precede.
3. Substitute the letters using the alphabet provided above. Notice there are two forms for the letter R. One is
for the R sound as in RED. The other is for the R sound as in CAR. The name ROBERT starts with the R-as-in-
RED sound and near its end it has the R-as-in-CAR sound.
4. Heres the text notation. The underscores at the beginning and end show where the baseline is.

O E O E
_R B R T_
R B R T

7wH7V1
`N $

7 w 7 1

Generally the vowels go above the consonants, but sometimes, in the case of Y and silent E, they go below. Heres
another example. This one includes a special symbol, a squiggle line above the consonant, which indicates a dou-
bled consonant. Use this doubling symbol with any consonant.

1. Write the name: LYNNE.

2. Shift the vowels down and to the left, so they are below the letters they follow.
3. Make letter combinations. Doubled consonants can be combined into one space.
4. Substitute the letters using the alphabet provided above. Use the squiggle above the N to signify it is doubled.
5. Heres the text notation. Most of the action occurs below the baseline. The square brackets to indicate letter
combinations that result in a single letterform.

_ L [NN] _ L NN
Y E
Y E

j5P j 5P

The line above a consonant means that a nasal N or M precedes the consonant in question. In the next example,
we use the nasal modifier and we see what to do with vowels when theres no consonant in the right place to put
it above.
1. Write the name: ANDY.
2. Shift the vowels. The Y goes down and to the left. The letter A slides right above the consonant pair.
3. Make letter combinations using the supplementary letters: N + D = ND.
4. Substitute the letters. The nasal N preceding D is denoted by a squiggle line above the D.
5. Heres the text notation.

A
A E
_ [ND] _
Y ND 2P

2#P
Y

Heres one last example with two different letter combinations.

1. Write the name: SHELDON.
2. Shift the vowels.
3. Make letter combinations using the supplementary letters: S + H = SH.
4. Substitute the letters.
5. Heres the text notation.

E O
E O
_ [SH] L D N_
SH L D N

djR25^ `N

d j 2 5
Name: ADRIAN
Text notation: A A
2#7`B5#
_ DRIN_

Name: EILEEN
Text notation: _ [EI] L [EE] N _
hVj~V5

Comment: The name starts with two vowels which the translation engine creates as another special character.
The repeated double E is written as an E with an extra stroke underneath per the table above.

Name: DIETRICH
Text notation: E I
2`B1F7aG
_ D I T R [CH] _

Comment: The CH is rendered as a special character per the table above.

t#jR`B
Name: AMELIE
Text notation: AE
_MLI_
E

Comment: Since there is no consonant the I is rendered as a full character and the silent E at the end is placed
under the I.

About Jens Hansen

Jens Hansen was the creator & designer of The One Ring in the Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit movies.
Their internationally acclaimed jewellery workshop in New Zealand specializes in making hand-
forged rings including custom laser engraved elvish messages and you can find out more about Jens
Hansen and see their The One Ring replicas at www.jenshansen.com.
The explanation & examples in this guide are adapted with permission from the original author Ned Gulley.
Check out our elvish references at http://www.jenshansen.com/elvish and if you would like Ned to
personally translate your name or phrase and provide an elvish writing graphic suitable for a tattoo for
a modest fee please see his webpage http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/tattoos.html