i am doing some reseach and woundered if anyone could help. I realize it may be a unusual request. in 1945 an American GI met, and befriended a Japanese man. He wrote down his name but i think he wrote what he "heard" not the actual name (language was a bit of an issue). Anyway the American heard it as Alaketa Gonteda . I am slightly familiar with Japanese names and that does not seem to be accurate. So i was hoping if a someone more familiar than me might have a suggestion. Maybe if someone says what was written they will undersatnd what it should be. My guess would have been Awa Kata ??? Tada but i am probably way off. i would be happy to hear any suggestions
Help trying to figure out a Japanese name
- Thread starter nixe
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- 8 Aug 2005
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荒川, Arakawa is a possibility.
- 14 Mar 2002
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As thomas points out Arakeda is extremely rare so that makes it unlikely.
Another possibility for the last (?) name is Arakida (荒木田) which is much more common.
I deliberately left off the "da" sound because it didn't seem to fit a first name and "da" is the sound for "am" or "is." So I thought he could have been told "gantei da" (I'm Gantei). You can play around with names here. Just make sure to change the dictionary to Japanese Names.
- Thread starter
- #7
Thanks for all the information. It is very educational, i am learning. The Da at the end is possible. I think the American and Japanese young men spent a lot of time together and were friends so i would have thought that if they met once getting the "da" at the end makes sense but i would have thought that after some time the Japanese gentleman would have corrected the misunderstanding about his name. The American wrote it down on a picture and a letter that was written after he knew the Japanese man for some time. Very interesting, a puzzle that may never be solved but fun
