Greek to Latin Transliterator

Greek names, addresses and place names often need to be written in Latin letters: on passports, travel bookings, maps, academic references and forms that only accept Latin text. Greece’s official system for this is ELOT 743, identical to the international ISO 843 transcription, and it is what you see on Greek passports and road signs. This tool applies it, and also converts informal Greeklish back into Greek.

Letters and pairs

Most letters have one fixed form: β is v, δ is d, θ is th, ξ is x, φ is f, χ is ch, ψ is ps, and both ο and ω are o. Vowel pairs are written as they are spelled, so αι is ai, ει is ei and οι is oi, while ου, which sounds like the u in “put”, is ou. Accents are dropped by default; switch on stress marks to write Athína instead of Athina when the stress matters, for example in language teaching.

Rules that follow pronunciation

Some pairs change with their neighbours. αυ, ευ and ηυ are written av, ev and iv before vowels and voiced consonants (Evangelia), but af, ef and if before voiceless consonants and at the end of a word (efcharisto, aftos). μπ is written b at the start or end of a word and mb in the middle (Bambis), and γγ is ng (Angelos). A diaeresis, as in ϊ or ϋ, means the letters are pronounced separately, so the pair rules do not apply. These rules are applied automatically, word by word.

Capitals

Capitals that become two Latin letters follow their word: Θεσσαλονίκη becomes Thessaloniki, and ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ becomes THESSALONIKI, as required for documents written in capitals.

Different spellings of the same name

Many Greek names have several Latin spellings in circulation: Giorgos, Yorgos and Georgios, or Giannis and Yannis. They come from older systems, English pronunciation or personal preference. ELOT 743 gives the official form, but for tickets, bank details and visas always use the spelling in the passport.

Greeklish back to Greek

Greeklish is Greek typed with Latin letters, common in texts, chats and older emails. The converter turns th, ch, ps and ks into θ, χ, ψ and ξ, ou into ου, and single letters into their most likely Greek match, including the habit of writing 8 for θ and 3 for ξ, and it adds final sigma ς at the end of words. Greeklish has no rules, though: i may stand for η, ι, υ, ει or οι, and o for ο or ω, so the result needs proofreading and accents must be added by hand.

The Greek alphabet

The chart under the tool lists all 24 letters with their modern names and their ELOT 743 Latin forms, as a quick reference for learners and travellers.

A worked example

The name Ευάγγελος Παπαδόπουλος becomes Evangelos Papadopoulos. In Ευά, ευ comes before a vowel, so it is written ev; γγ becomes ng; ου becomes ou; and the accents disappear. With stress marks on, the same name is Evángelos Papadópoulos, showing where the stress falls. The word ευχαριστώ, “thank you”, becomes efcharisto, because ευ comes before the voiceless χ. Each of these rules is applied automatically, so long texts are converted consistently.

Related tools

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