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Kanji for English
The kanji most commonly used for "English" is 英.
英
Kanji that mean English
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英
hero, excellent
Also associated with flower.
Onyomi: ei Kunyomi: hanabusa 8 strokes Jōyō
英 is the character Japan assigned to England, and by extension to English: 英国 is Britain, 英語 the English language, 日英 Japanese–British. The choice was phonetic — 英 once approximated the “En” of England — but it was a flattering pick, because the character’s own meaning is “splendid, outstanding”.
That native sense is alive in everyday words: 英雄 is a hero, 英才 an exceptional talent, 英断 a decisive, courageous judgement. So 英 does double duty — a proper-noun abbreviation for England/English on one hand, and “excellence” on the other. Context decides: on a news headline 英 means Britain; in a personal name it means brilliance.
As a name kanji it is common and classic — Hide, Hideo, Eiko, Hanae all use it — which is also why it reads warmly rather than bureaucratically.
Words using English kanji
Everyday Japanese vocabulary built from the characters above.
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英語
えいご
English (language)
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英雄
えいゆう
hero; heroine; great person
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育英
いくえい
education of gifted young people; providing financial support to gifted students; education
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英文
えいぶん
English writing; English sentence; English text
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英字
えいじ
English letter; alphabetic character
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英和
えいわ
English-Japanese; English-Japanese dictionary
Before you use English kanji
英 will not read as "the English language" on skin — standing alone it reads as "splendid, heroic", which is usually a happy accident. If you specifically want "English/England", use the word 英国 (Britain) or 英語 (the language); the single character is better treated as the virtue than the nationality.