Family name in Kanji

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I am looking to find out how to write my family name in Kanji.

Let me explain why I want to do this and the background so you understand the reason behind this and why I am coming here to find out how to do this. I am half Japanese, half Caucasian. My dad is full blooded Japanese, but was born in the United States. So he does not know how to write any Kanji, nor does he speak Japanese. He can understand a little bit since it is my Grandmother's native tongue.

My family is of Samurai descent. However, back in the 1960's they had to sell our family Samurai sword for money since they were facing hard times.

This is the part that is going to make some of you cringe, since I've read some of the other posts on this forum... I would like to get a tattoo of a Samurai Warrior with my family name in Kanji incorporated in it. I am very proud of my Japanese heritage. I think it is much more appropriate to put my Japanese family name in Kanji rather than in English.

If anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated. My family name is Yoshida.

Thanks in advance.

Go to this site: WWWJDIC
And enter よしだ in the search field, and select "Japanese Names ENAMDICT" from the drop down menu next to the search field.

In the Japanese phonetic writing system, your family name is written よしだ, but names are almost always written in kanji. Unfortunately, there can be many many different kanji combinations for names that are pronounced identically. I can tell you that 吉田 is probably the most common kanji for that name, but there's no guarantee that your family name is written that way.

If you had family in Japan they would be a better resource. If you have no way of knowing or verifying the kanji for your name, I'm afraid you're running the risk of getting the wrong characters.

As for the whole tattoo thing, I've said enough on the subject in other threads. If you really care you can just do a search for "tattoo." I recommend thinking long and hard about whether you want this done, and consider all perspectives on the matter.

I assume your father renounced his Japanese nationality when he got his American citizenship, but his family registry, recording "Renouncing J nationality", must be kept in the local town office.

I don't know how long you can date back your ancestors, but it is an idea to leave a small part of your right/left arms for the tattoo for your family crest.

Thanks for the reply. I would have my Grandpa write it for me, but he does not have internet and lives far away from me. I'll see what I can work out.

My father was born here in the United States and does not even speak Japanese. Otherwise I'd have him write it for me.

Tiepolo said:

Thanks for the reply. I would have my Grandpa write it for me, but he does not have internet and lives far away from me. I'll see what I can work out.
My father was born here in the United States and does not even speak Japanese. Otherwise I'd have him write it for me.

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So you can't wait long enough to drop a letter to gramps?


Tony

AJBryant said:

So you can't wait long enough to drop a letter to gramps?
Tony

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seriously, what's a month or two to wait for correspondence from a relative, compared to the rest of your life you'll have this tattoo on your body?

Yeah, I say write to your grandpa, he'll probably be pleased to get a letter from you anyway!

I wrote from UK to US a while ago and the letter arrived in less than a week! so maybe it won't be so slow...

Yeah, wait until you know for certain from a relative. There are many possible kanji combinations...

吉田 should be the only possible Kanji for Yoshida, as far as family name is concerned.

吉田、芳田、良田、佳田、由田、義田、喜田...

Just because *one* way of writing it is most likely, that doesn't guarantee it is the correct way in this instance.

Even in English, when you hear a name, you can't be sure if it's Jenson or Jensen, or Stewart or Stuart, Wilde or Wylde or Wild or Wyld, or Cattrell or Cattrall or Catrall or...

Every language has funky spellings in names, it seems.