Yuri!!! On Ice - character names?

I noticed something and had a question! For the characters Viktor Nikiforov and Katsuki Yuuri, shouldn't their names be spelled how they are in all official publications + merchandise (where their names are spelled "Victor" and "Yuri" respectively)? These are the spellings used in all the Japanese and overseas merchandise. The "Viktor" and "Yuuri" spellings are really only used among fans, so maybe it might be better to have their names spelled officially and have the fan spellings aliased to the official spellings. For proof of official spellings differing from Danbooru spellings, see for example the large amount of merchandise of both Victor and Yuri with their names written on it. Here is a specific example if you don't want to comb through all that. Also of note is the fact that Katsuki Yuuri's name is spelled as Yuri in the show title: YURI!!! On Ice.

For standard Japanese names (which "Katsuki Yuuri" is) the official spelling is always ignored in favor of a consistent romanization style. His name is indicated as being pronounced ゆうり (Yuuri) and not ゆり (Yuri), so the former is how his name should be spelled here. Generally for names in other languages, it should follow a standard for that language, but oftentimes there is no set standard here (I don't know about Russian). If there are no particular rules to follow, or it's a completely made-up name, then the official spelling is preferred.

EB said:

Generally for names in other languages, it should follow a standard for that language, but oftentimes there is no set standard here (I don't know about Russian). If there are no particular rules to follow, or it's a completely made-up name, then the official spelling is preferred.

"Виктор" (stress on the first syllable) is a popular given male name in Russia, so Japan got it right for once. However, looks like there's no standard romanization: see Victor vs Viktor in wikipedia, though search for 'Виктор' suggests that "Viktor" version is used more often.