REPORT ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF
UNITED NATIONS ROMANIZATION SYSTEMS FOR GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
Compiled by the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems
Version 3.0, November 2010
At sessions of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names there have been presented several documents on the romanization of Ukrainian geographical names. The first scheme for romanizing Ukrainian names was adopted in Ukraine in 19931. Another system, adopted in 1996 by the Minister of Justice, was long used in Ukrainian maps and listings2.
On January 27, 2010 the Ukrainian Government adopted new rules for the romanization of Ukrainian3. The rules will apply both to personal names and geographical names. The system is based on the previous system of 1996 with three differences: 1) character 30 (щ) is rendered shch (not sch); 2) characters 33 (ь) and 34 (’) are not romanized. The system is not fully reversible as certain character combinations may cause ambiguity and some characters are not differentiated in romanization.
The national system of romanization (2010) is as follows.
1 | А а | a |
2 | Б б | b |
3 | В в | v |
4 | Г г | h, ghA |
5 | Ґ ґ | g |
6 | Д д | d |
7 | Е е | e |
8 | Є є | ie, yeB |
9 | Ж ж | zh |
10 | З з | z |
11 | И и | y |
12 | І і | i |
13 | Ї ї | i, yiB |
14 | Й й | i, yB |
15 | К к | k |
16 | Л л | l |
17 | М м | m |
18 | Н н | n |
19 | О о | o |
20 | П п | p |
21 | Р р | r |
22 | С с | s |
23 | Т т | t |
24 | У у | u |
25 | Ф ф | f |
26 | Х х | kh |
27 | Ц ц | ts |
28 | Ч ч | ch |
29 | Ш ш | sh |
30 | Щ щ | shch |
31 | Ю ю | iu, yuB |
32 | Я я | ia, yaB |
33 | Ь ь | (not romanized) |
34 | ’ | (not romanized) |
Note. Cursive forms of some characters might be formed differently: Аа Бб Вв Гг Ґґ Дд Ее Єє Жж Зз Ии Іі Її Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Юю Яя Ьь ’.
The BGN/PCGN 1965 System gives, as a single block, different Roman equivalents to the following Ukrainian characters (the national equivalents are in parentheses):
г (h/gh) | h |
є (ie/ye) | ye |
ї (i/yi) | yi |
й (i/y) | y |
ю (iu/yu) | yu |
я (ia/ya) | ya |
ь (-) | ’ |
’ (-) | ” |