What is the difference between BGN/PCGN and ISO 9?

BGN/PCGN (Board on Geographic Names / Permanent Committee on Geographical Names) is used mainly for geographic names, passports, and maps — it favors readability in English. ISO 9 is an international standard used in libraries and academic work; it maps every Cyrillic letter to a unique Latin character, including diacritics, so it is fully reversible.

Which languages are supported?

Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, and Serbian Cyrillic are supported. Each language has its own alphabet variants (e.g., Ukrainian has і, ї, є; Serbian has ћ, ђ, љ, њ, џ), and the tool applies the correct mapping for the selected language.

Is the transliteration 100% reversible?

ISO 9 is designed to be fully reversible — every Latin output can be converted back to the original Cyrillic. BGN/PCGN is optimized for English readability and some letter combinations are ambiguous, so reverse conversion is approximate.

Does this handle capital letters?

Yes. The tool preserves capitalization: uppercase Cyrillic maps to uppercase Latin, and lowercase Cyrillic maps to lowercase Latin.

Are numbers and punctuation preserved?

Yes. Numbers, spaces, and punctuation marks are passed through unchanged; only Cyrillic letters are transliterated.

Cyrillic Transliterator

Name: Cyrillic Transliterator
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Paste Cyrillic text and get a Latin-script transliteration (BGN/PCGN or ISO 9), or convert Latin back to Cyrillic.

Language

Scheme

Direction

Cyrillic → Latin Latin → Cyrillic

Cyrillic Input 0 chars

Latin Output

Character Reference — Russian BGN/PCGN

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Summary

Paste Cyrillic text and get a Latin-script transliteration (BGN/PCGN or ISO 9), or convert Latin back to Cyrillic.

How it works

Select the Cyrillic language variant (Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, or Serbian).
Pick a scheme: BGN/PCGN for readable romanization, or ISO 9 for academic precision.
Type or paste Cyrillic text; Latin output is generated character-by-character in real time.
Toggle the direction switch to reverse: paste Latin text and receive Cyrillic output.
Use the Copy button to copy the result to your clipboard with one click.

Use cases

Romanize Russian names or addresses for passports and travel documents.
Prepare Bulgarian or Serbian text for use in Latin-only systems.
Convert Ukrainian place names to their standardized Latin equivalents.
Transliterate Cyrillic for academic citations or library catalogs (ISO 9).
Reverse-transliterate a Latin rendering back into Cyrillic script.
Convert personal names from Cyrillic for email or username fields.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-07-01 · Reviewed by Nham Vu