Question about names

[TurkeySloth]

If this semantics question is placed icorrectly, please move it.

In my attempts to name my streaming persona, I came up the the name Tsuhide a while back. While I was originally happy with all the vowels being short for ease of pronunciation, I just found out that Tsuhide is almost always a combination of existing names during research with Jisho's dictionary. Granted, I, probably, should've expected that. Do Japanese naming laws allow for creation of unique names? Of course, I am very likely to be overthinking this because I'm not talking about a real person.

 

[mdchachi]

If this semantics question is placed icorrectly, please move it.

In my attempts to name my streaming persona, I came up the the name Tsuhide a while back. While I was originally happy with all the vowels being short for ease of pronunciation, I just found out that Tsuhide is almost always a combination of existing names during research with Jisho's dictionary. Granted, I, probably, should've expected that. Do Japanese naming laws allow for creation of unique names? Of course, I am very likely to be overthinking this because I'm not talking about a real person.

If your question is whether or not you could make up a new name and, for example, name a baby Tsuhide then the answer is yes. Japanese law doesn't place many limits on names but there is a law that allows them to reject offensive names. There was a famous case where the parents attempted to name their child Akuma (devil). And the former Prime Minister waded into the debate by stating it would be akin to child abuse to name one's child Pikachu.

 

[TurkeySloth]

Thanks, mdchachi. That's, exactly, what I was asking.

 

[Toritoribe]

This might be unnecessary meddling, but Tsuhide doesn't sound like a Japanese name to me. (There is no problem with Mitsuhide, Katsuhide, Tatsuhide, etc. as a male given name, though.)

 

[thomas]

Mitsuhide

Although in Japan, Mitsuhide might be associated with Nobunaga's assassin.

 

[Toritoribe]

Yeah, Akechi Mitsuhide is no doubt the most well-known Mitsuhide, and because of that, it's the symbol of betrayal, just like Judas Iscariot.

 

[TurkeySloth]

Speaking of fictional names ending in -hide, I was going to write a Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic involving a tournament ages ago. While it originated as a community-based idea that allowed for custom cards, it shifted to just a regular fanfic that would've aloowed my custom cards before I finally killed it off due to lack of time. During that brief time span, I came up with a character named Nobuhide. Does that name sound believable for a Japanese person?

 

[Toritoribe]

Yes, Nobuhide is really used as a male given name, for example Oda Nobuhide , the father of Oda Nobunaga.

Oda Nobuhide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Nobuhide Minorikawa - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

津軽信英 - Wikipedia

ja.wikipedia.org

 

[TurkeySloth]

Thanks you again, Toritoribe.

What's Nobuhide's pitch accent? I can't find it anywhere.

 

[Toritoribe]

The accent is on the second mora, i.e., it's the type2 /のぶ]ひで/ (の／ぶ＼ひで).

 

[TurkeySloth]

That's very helpful. Thank you. While the accent dictionary shows Nomura as の/むら (Nòmúrá), it's ambiguous as to whether the pitch drops after the final mora by default or not. For example, is the proper contour Nòmúrá/Nòmúrá-sán or Nòmúrá/Nòmúrá-sàn? I realize my example may be slightly flawed, but it's the most concise one I could think of. Additionally, I picked up the accented vowels from Wiktionary's illustrative pronunciations.

 

[Toritoribe]

While the accent dictionary shows Nomura as の/むら (Nòmúrá), it's ambiguous as to whether the pitch drops after the final mora by default or not.

It's not ambiguous. の/むら (Nòmúrá) clearly shows that it's type0 (flat), so のむらさん is の／むらさん (/のむらさん=/). If the pitch falls after ら, it's type 3, so it's written as の／むら＼ (/のむら]/).

See the table nice gaijin-san provided in your previous thread.

Pitch Accent

While searching various Japanese terms on Wiktionary—which includes an accented transcription, I've noticed the fointricacies below. 1. Long vowels tend to either have a medial downstep (Ryuu [ryúꜜù]) or high tone continuing from the second mora to the following mora, after which the downstep...

jref.com

While type0 かいしゃ and type3 おとこ are the same accent when it's said as a single word (か／いしゃ vs. お／とこ), they are distinguished when another word (for example, a particle) follows it.

か／いしゃが low-high-high-high
お／とこ＼が low-high-high-low

Incidentally, の／むら＼さん refers to the name of a mountain (野村山), not the surname.

cf.
surname 網野さん type1 あ＼みのさん high-low-low-low
mountain's name 網野山 type3 あ／みの＼さん low-high-high-low-low
amino acid アミノ酸 type0 あ／みのさん low-high-high-high-high

 

[TurkeySloth]

Ah. I see. Thanks again.