When you need to spell a word out loud, there is a recognised vocabulary for naming the individual letters of the English alphabet. The names of these letters mostly correspond to the sound of the letter itself (usually in a single long vowel form, or with a consonant followed by a long vowel), with some exceptions. It is very rare that you will have to write these names, so the spellings of the letters’ names themselves may not be especially important to learn – what is important is how they are pronounced.

The pronunciation of these letter names can be very useful if you need to spell out your name, words, or just individual letters, in spoken English. The names are also used when we pronounce acronyms (multiple words abbreviated to letters), such as PDF, MC and DJ, or with compound nouns that use an individual letter, such as T-shirt or A-level. The following table gives all the names of the English (for a full printable image file, with NATO words, click the image above, or here):

The names of letters in the English alphabet

How to learn the names of English letters

English-speaking children are often taught the names of the English alphabet using a simple rhyme, grouping the words in the following way:

Ay bee cee dee,

Ee eff gee,

Haitch I jay kay,

Ell em en o pee.

Cue ar ess,

Tee u vee,

Double-u ex,

Wy and zed (or zee).

Often joined by the final line, “Now I know my ACB, won’t you sing along with me.”, and then repeated. Again and again. Thanks to the internet, you can now hear variants of the tune on YouTube.

It may be enough to remember, however, that most of the letters are pronounced using the simple rules that vowels represent themselves, in long vowel form (e – ee), and consonants are represented either consant +ee (dee) or e+consonant (eff). However there are some exceptions: H, J, K, Q, R, Y and Z (in its British form, zed). You may also find variations of letter names, such as for H and Z (which can also be called izzard).

Alternative names of English letters

As there are variations in pronunciation of the letters’ names, phonic alphabets have also been developed representing letters with specific words (starting with the letter they represent), rather than their original names.

This may be useful if you have concerns about your pronunciation, as these words are used and understood internationally to avoid confusion (particularly with radio or phone operators). The main alternative alphabet is called either the Nato Phonetic Alphabet, or the ICAO Phonetic Alphabet, shown in the table below:

This alphabet was developed in the 1950s using a huge number of tests to see which words were the most effectively understood internationally. It is now an official and widely understood code – but it is not the only way to describe English letters.

Variations exist from older military codes, or simply because people use other memorable words which clearly represent a letter. For instance roger for R (originally also used to mean received), zebra for Z and george for G. In some cases, even if you don’t use the official representations, you may spell out both the letter name and a clear word, to be clear, for instance “Wy for Yankee, Ee for Elephant, and Ess for Sausage”. But if you want to make life easiest for yourself, and the person you’re trying to spell a word for, learning the proper names and pronunciation of the alphabet, and potentially the NATO words too, may save some confusion!