In Japanese, using Katakana, why is the name Danny written and pronounced ダニー. Why not just ダニ? I'm not sure why the i is being extended when this doesn't really happen in english.

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    Compare コピー 'copy', コリー 'Collie', ダミー 'dummy', バギー 'buggy', バニー 'bunny', ヘビー 'heavy', ベビー 'baby', ルビー 'ruby', etc. – snailcar Sep 7 '14 at 17:02
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    It's not so clear-cut in English either. [1] [2] – Zhen Lin Sep 7 '14 at 18:17
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    Also, I think most Dannys in Japan aren't too eager to be lumped into the same group as these guys anyway. – Will Sep 7 '14 at 22:04
  • @snailboat So basically all english words ending in y are like this? Is it a hard rule? – Bob Benny Sep 7 '14 at 23:45
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    Pretty much the same reason I prefer to be デイヴ or デイブ than デブ... – Dave Sep 9 '14 at 5:55

Words brought to Japan from English speakers and which end in 'y' are usually pronounced with extended 'i' sound.


To build on koji's answer, sometimes you'll see changes in the katakana-ization of foreign words and names to avoid collisions with native words and names. An additional incentive for the long "y" sound is that there's a native word だに, which means "mite or louse" (that is, a small blood-sucking arthropod). It's probably a *good* thing that the katakana pronunciation of "Danny" has shifted the way it has. :)

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