Cyrillic Transliteration
Convert Cyrillic text to Latin letters, or Latin back to Cyrillic, with the official Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Russian rules, including position-dependent letters and all-caps names. Conversion runs live in your browser and your text is never uploaded.
Bulgarian Streamlined System letter table
How to use the Cyrillic Transliteration
- Choose the direction: Cyrillic → Latin or Latin → Cyrillic.
- Pick the language and system, for example Bulgarian (official) or Ukrainian (passport).
- Type or paste your text; the result updates as you type.
- Check the letter table below to see how each letter is converted.
- Copy the result or download it, or press Swap to convert it back.
Transliteration systems compared
The same Cyrillic letter can be written differently depending on the language and the standard. These are the letters where the systems in this tool differ most.
| Letter | Bulgarian (2009) | Russian practical | GOST 7.79 B | ISO 9 | Ukrainian (2010) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Г г | g | g | g | g | h |
| Ж ж | zh | zh | zh | ž | zh |
| И и | i | i | i | i | y |
| Й й | y | y | j | j | y (start) / i |
| Х х | h | kh | x | h | kh |
| Ц ц | ts | ts | cz / c | c | ts |
| Щ щ | sht | shch | shh | ŝ | shch |
| Ъ ъ | a | (omitted) | `` | ʺ | (not used) |
| Ь ь | y | (omitted) | ` | ʹ | (omitted) |
| Ю ю | yu | yu | yu | û | yu (start) / iu |
| Я я | ya | ya | ya | â | ya (start) / ia |
Worked examples
| Cyrillic | System | Latin | Rule shown |
|---|---|---|---|
| София, България | Bulgarian | Sofia, Bulgaria | final -ия = -ia; the country name is fixed as Bulgaria by law |
| Щастие | Bulgarian | Shtastie | щ = sht |
| Юрій, Мар'яна | Ukrainian | Yurii, Mariana | ю at the start = yu, й inside = i, apostrophe dropped, я inside = ia |
| Згорани, Єнакієве | Ukrainian | Zghorany, Yenakiieve | зг = zgh, є at the start = ye, inside = ie |
| Подъезд, Достоевский | Russian practical | Podyezd, Dostoyevskiy | е after ъ or a vowel = ye |
| Цирк, цапля, съесть | GOST 7.79 B | Cirk, czaplya, s``est` | c before и/е/ы/й, cz elsewhere |
Which system should you use?
- Official documents and place names: use the national standard – the Streamlined System for Bulgarian and the 2010 KMU system for Ukrainian. Road signs, passports and government websites follow them.
- Russian names in English text: the practical BGN/PCGN-style option gives familiar, readable spellings. Note that Russian passports use a different ICAO-based scheme (for example й = i, ъ = ie), so always copy a person's name exactly as it appears in their passport.
- Libraries, databases and URLs: GOST 7.79-2000 System B uses only ASCII characters and can be converted back to Cyrillic without loss.
- Linguistics and catalogues: ISO 9 maps every letter to exactly one Latin letter with diacritics.
Want to type Cyrillic directly instead? Try the Russian keyboard.
Frequently asked questions
What is the official Bulgarian transliteration?
Bulgaria uses the Streamlined System set out in the Transliteration Act of 2009. Each letter has one Latin equivalent: ж = zh, ц = ts, ч = ch, ш = sh, щ = sht, ъ = a, ь = y, ю = yu, я = ya. The one exception is the ending -ия at the end of a word, which becomes -ia, as in София → Sofia and Мария → Maria. The law also fixes the country name България as Bulgaria.
How do Ukrainian passports spell names?
Ukraine uses the system approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 55 of 2010. Г is h, Ґ is g, И is y and І is i. Є, Ї, Й, Ю and Я are written ye, yi, y, yu and ya at the start of a word but ie, i, i, iu and ia elsewhere, so Юрій becomes Yurii. The cluster зг is written zgh to avoid confusion with ж, and the soft sign and apostrophe are dropped.
Which Russian system should I choose?
For names in English text, the Practical (BGN/PCGN-style) option gives familiar spellings such as Dostoyevskiy and Khrushchov. GOST 7.79-2000 System B is an ASCII-only system used in Russian libraries and web addresses that can be converted back exactly. ISO 9 uses diacritics (ž, č, š, ŝ) and is strictly one letter for one letter. Russian international passports use yet another ICAO-based scheme.
Can I convert Latin text back to Cyrillic?
Yes, choose Latin → Cyrillic. The tool reads digraphs such as zh, kh, ts, ch, sh and shch first. GOST System B and ISO 9 convert back exactly. Practical, Bulgarian and Ukrainian romanizations drop or merge some letters (for example ъ and а are both a in Bulgarian), so the reverse result may need a quick check.
Is transliteration the same as translation?
No. Transliteration only changes the alphabet, so a word keeps its sound: Москва becomes Moskva, not Moscow. Translation changes the meaning into another language.
Does it handle capital letters correctly?
Yes. A capital letter that becomes two Latin letters is written in title case inside a normal word (Щука → Shtuka) and fully in capitals inside an all-caps word (ЩУКА → SHTUKA), which matters for names in documents.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. All conversion happens in your browser, so you can safely transliterate names and addresses. Your last input is remembered only in this browser.