Armenian Transliteration

How to Use the Converter

Pick the writing system of your source text with the tabs above one box, choose the target standard on the other side, and start typing — the transliteration updates live with every keystroke. Hover over any word to highlight its counterpart on the opposite side, use the copy icon to copy the contents of a box, and the ✕ icon to clear both boxes. Because every tab is available on both sides, you can convert directly between any two systems, for example from BGN/PCGN to ISO 9985, not only to and from Armenian script.

The Armenian Alphabet

The Armenian alphabet was created around 405 AD by the monk and scholar Mesrop Mashtots. It originally contained 36 letters; two more (օ and ֆ) were added in the Middle Ages, and modern usage also includes the ligature և. The script is used for both Eastern Armenian, the official language of the Republic of Armenia, and Western Armenian, spoken across the worldwide Armenian diaspora. Because Armenian letters have no exact one-to-one match with the Latin alphabet, several competing romanization systems exist — the same letter թ, for example, appears as tʹ in ISO 9985, t' in BGN/PCGN and tʿ in ALA-LC.

Supported Romanization Standards

ISO 9985 (1996) is the international standard for the romanization of Armenian published by the International Organization for Standardization. It maps each Armenian letter to a single Latin letter, using diacritics such as ē, ž, š and č, which makes it precise, reversible and popular in linguistics and academic publishing.

BGN/PCGN (1981) is the system jointly adopted by the United States Board on Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names. It largely avoids diacritics and instead uses familiar English digraphs such as zh, kh, ts and sh, so it is the form most often seen for Armenian place names and personal names on maps and in English-language media.

ALA-LC is the romanization scheme of the American Library Association and the Library of Congress. It is the standard used for cataloging Armenian books and periodicals in North American libraries and in academic bibliographies, and it marks aspirated consonants with a modifier sign (tʿ, pʿ, kʿ).

ASCII is an informal, keyboard-friendly scheme that uses only plain characters available on any keyboard (letters, apostrophes and digraphs such as zh or sh). It is convenient for email, chat, file names, URLs and any software that cannot display diacritics.

Transliteration vs. Translation

Transliteration converts the letters of one writing system into another; it does not translate meaning. The Armenian greeting Բարև is transliterated as "Barev" in BGN/PCGN or "Barew" in ISO 9985, while its English translation is "hello". Use this tool whenever you need to read, write or store Armenian words in Latin script; for meaning, you will still need a dictionary or a translator.

Who Is This Tool For?

Students learning Armenian, linguists and researchers, librarians and catalogers who follow ALA-LC rules, genealogists reading Armenian records, journalists, translators, travelers to Armenia, members of the Armenian diaspora, and developers who need consistent romanized Armenian data — anyone looking for a fast and accurate Armenian-to-Latin converter with full reverse transliteration back into Armenian script.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this Armenian transliteration tool free?
Yes. It is completely free to use, with no sign-up or usage limits. If you find it helpful, you can support its development through the donation link above.

Does it work with Eastern and Western Armenian?
Yes. The converter maps the letters of the Armenian script itself, so text written in either Eastern or Western Armenian can be transliterated. Note that the standards reflect spelling rather than the differing pronunciations of the two branches.

Can I convert Latin text back into Armenian script?
Yes. Reverse transliteration is fully supported: choose a Latin standard as the source, select Armenian as the target, and your romanized text is converted back into Armenian letters as you type.