REPORT ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF
UNITED NATIONS ROMANIZATION SYSTEMS FOR GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
Compiled by the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems
Version 4.0, March 2016

Armenian

No romanization systems for Armenian have been put forward at the United Nations conferences on the standardization of geographical names or at sessions of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. In Armenia the Regulation of the Government On the Rendering of Armenian Geographical Names into English and Russian was approved in 2011 but it does not contain specific romanization rules. A draft system worked out by the State Committee of the Real Property Cadastre of the Government of the Republic of Armenia with the agreement of the Armenian Language Institute and the Terminological Committee with input from the UNGEGN WG on Romanization Systems has been compiled¹ but its status remains unofficial (as confirmed in 2015)².

Systems of romanization

The BGN/PCGN 1981 System gives the following romanization:

1	Ա ա	a
2	Բ բ	b
3	Գ գ	g
4	Դ դ	d
5	Ե ե	e, yeA
6	Զ զ	z
7	Է է	e
8	Ը ը	y
9	Թ թ	t’
10	Ժ ժ	zh
11	Ի ի	i
12	Լ լ	l
13	Խ խ	kh
14	Ծ ծ	ts
15	Կ կ	k
16	Հ հ	h
17	Ձ ձ	dz
18	Ղ ղ	gh
19	Ճ ճ	ch
20	Մ մ	m
21	Յ յ	y
22	Ն ն	n
23	Շ շ	sh
24	Ո ո	o, voB
25	Չ չ	ch’
26	Պ պ	p
27	Ջ ջ	j
28	Ռ ռ	rr
29	Ս ս	s
30	Վ վ	v
31	Տ տ	t
32	Ր ր	r
33	Ց ց	ts’
34	Ու ու	u
35	Փ փ	p’
36	Ք ք	k’
37	ԵՒ և	ev, yevC
38	Օ օ	o
39	Ֆ ֆ	f

• ^A ye is romanized initially and after the vowel characters ա, ե, է, ը, ի, ո, ու, and օ.
• ^B vo is romanized initially except in the word ով which should be romanized ov.
• ^C yev is romanized initially, in isolation, and after the vowel characters ա, ե, է, ը, ի, ո, ու, and օ.

Note. The character 37 is used in the lower case form only; in the upper case it is written as a combination of characters 5 and 30 (ԵՎ), cf. ԵՐԵՎԱՆ YEREVAN, Երևան Yerevan.

The transliteration standard ISO 9985:1996 gives, as a single block, different Roman equivalents to the following Armenian letters (the BGN/PCGN equivalents are in parentheses):

ե (e/ye)	e
է (e)	ē
ը (y)	ë
ժ (zh)	ž
խ (kh)	x
ծ (ts)	ç
ձ (dz)	j
ղ (gh)	ġ
ճ (ch)	č̣
շ (sh)	š
ո (o/vo)	o
չ (ch’)	č
ջ (j)	ǰ
ռ (rr)	ṙ
ց (ts’)	c’
ու (u)	ow
օ (o)	ò

References

1. Report of the Working Group on Romanization Systems. 28th Session of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. New York, 28 April – 2 May 2014. WP.8/11.
2. Personal information obtained in July 2015 in Yerevan from the national mapping agency in Armenia.