Japanese Baby Name

Johnathan · 2 Sep 2004

My fianceﾃｩ and I intend to name our future-son (this'll be years from now) something Japanese, but an American middle name in case he doesn't like it or something. We decided on Ten'yo.

天与【てんよ】 (kanji info)
godsend; heaven's gift

But recently, she met some Japanese people who sort of laughed at that, saying he'd get made fun of.

I mean, I know it's not a name, but we aren't going to LIVE in Japan. The way I see it, it's equivalent to "weird" American names. Ya know, stuff like Rain or Happy or... something a hippie would name their kid. I dunno.

I just want everyone's input. WOULD he get made fun of? Keep in mind, we're naming him that no matter what, I'd just still like to know. Thanks.

gedatsu · 2 Sep 2004

I'd ask a native speaker if they think it sounds feminine or just a bit strange. You probally wouldnt want your son to have a feminine sounding name, regardless of living in japan or not...?

Hero · 2 Sep 2004

Ten'yo.... doesn't really sound like a guys name. And as for the meaning of the name... eer...

My name is Christopher.

I hate my name... not only does it sound kinda dumb (reason I go by Chris), but it also means "bearing Christ"... I would tell you why I hate the meaning, but if I do I may piss ppl off... so I'll leave it at that (^_^)

My girl and I have talked about names. I kinda want Japanese names & American ones for our kids.... perhaps a English middle name is good idea since you can't have 2 names, rofl...

Maciamo · 2 Sep 2004

Do you want just baby names or also names they can keep as adults ? :sorry:

Mike Cash · 2 Sep 2004

Finally, something even more bizarre than kanji tattoos......

sadakoyamamura · 2 Sep 2004

Maciamo said:
Do you want just baby names or also names they can keep as adults ? :sorry:

Good point...

I like Japanese names too. Recently, I found out that the Japanese would pronounce my name as Kazarin. Gedatsu is right, you should ask around afterall you don't want your kid's name to sound like a name of an anime character. Don't get me wrong, I love anime I hate being laughed at.

Maciamo · 2 Sep 2004

Keep in mind that Japanese people don't have much freedom to choose their children's names as they must only use kanji in the official list for names (which is not that long).
I think that neither kanji is in the list, so it can only sound weird and un-Japanese to a Japanese. At best they might think it's Chinese (because they use a different list, but they also can't choose any kanji)

Mike Cash · 2 Sep 2004

Maciamo said:
Keep in mind that Japanese people don't have much freedom to choose their children's names as they must only use kanji in the official list for names (which is not that long).

A slight clarification, if I may:

They may also choose not to use kanji at all, using either hiragana or katakana instead.

kirei_na_me · 2 Sep 2004

And if your Japanese spouse is the least bit superstitious, you have to go through that adding up of the strokes so that you won't pick a name that's bad luck...

All three of my sons have Japanese first names, and it's hard enough with them being half Japanese. I'm always wishing I would've used their 'Western' middle names.

Mike Cash · 2 Sep 2004

kirei_na_me said:
And if your Japanese spouse is the least bit superstitious, you have to go through that adding up of the strokes so that you won't pick a name that's bad luck...

All three of my sons have Japanese first names, and it's hard enough with them being half Japanese. I'm always wishing I would've used their 'Western' middle names.

We must be facing each other in a mirror or something. My kids have English first names, and middle names in kanji, although they would "scan" to English names just as well and when in the US we used the English spelling of them.

kirei_na_me · 2 Sep 2004

I should've done that too, mike. Given them names that could easily be taken as English or Japanese. Not that I'm having a lot of trouble with it, but I think it really would've been more practical since we're living in the States and all. I mean, one might think that they are 100% Japanese if they just saw their names. They've got a Japanese first name and a Japanese last name. I kind of feel left out.. :?

Anyway, for a small rural town in southern Virginia, people do suprisingly well with the pronunciation of their names. I do spell Ryukai as Lyukai, though, and that has turned into calling him "Luke".

DoctorP · 2 Sep 2004

I gave both of my boys American names...because no matter what the culture you live in, boys tend to get picked on more. My daughter has both a Japanese name and an American name. She uses the Japanese name. I gave one of my boys a rather feminine sounding name (Tracy), but he goes by his initials. Very few people even know his real name. They just call him T.J. Bottom line you can name him anything you like, but have a reason for it that you can explain to him as he grows older. He may not like it for a while, but he also may grow into it. I grew up being called Art...I hated that name, but over the years I grew into it and took a liking to it.

Foxtrot Uniform · 2 Sep 2004

You could give them a name thats bilingual like my name, for example. In english, my name is George which is of Greek origin meaning "creator of a fortune," but when it is read in Japanese, it is "じょうじ" or in kanji, ‎丞‎爾 , which is a Japanese name, although i forgot what it meant.

Bilingual names might be intereting, and there are several other names that are both names in japanese and english.

Lina Inverse · 3 Sep 2004

It sounds very strange indeed
I recommend you choose a more common male Japanese name like:
Keiichi, Kosuke, Keitaro...

Apollo · 3 Sep 2004

Tenyo is an unusual name I believe...

If you are not in Japan, I would rather recommend a Japanese middle name, instead of Japanese first name.
Or if you are going to name your child with a Japanese first name even though you are not living in Japan, it should be a name which can be pronounced in that language, or can be shortened and "anglicised"...

Like me, I have two names, a western and a Japanese middle name, and my Japanese family call me by my Japanese name.

GOOD LUCK NAMING with the Tenyo-name!

digicross · 3 Sep 2004

Interesting, one wanted a heavenly name, the other hate a heavenly name.

Well... Japanese boys tend to have their names ended with the suffix like "-ru", "-ro", "-o" "-to", "-ya", "-suke", "-ta", "-ichi" (if it was the mother's first born, it doesn't matter if he has older half siblings), and "-hiko". There are some more I think, but these are some of that came to my mind right now.

It should be noted that you should really pay attention on giving names to your kids, so that they will fit in with the enviroment and will try to aspire according to the meaning of the name. Remember that you might be the one who named him, but it's his name and his life.

So I guess you need to choose a name to make sure that will fit in.

For example, the Japanese name "Ken" is also a recognizeable name in the U.S.A. , a name like that would be nice.

The other way is to choose a name that might also sounded like a familiar name in the U.S.a. . "Jou", "Shou", and "Hiro" for example sounded much like "Joe" or "Jo", "Show", and "Hero".

But then again, even if already choosen a good name (to you at least), your kid might have turned bad (to you at least) and then might have turned on against you for giving the name he hates.

Mike Cash · 3 Sep 2004

I can't imagine why any parent would want to doom a child to a lifetime spent answering the same damned question over and over and over again.

It reminds me of Andy Griffith's old comedy sketch about Christopher Columbus in which he remarks about Ferdinand and Isabella "their mamas named them that on account of they didn't like them very much"

sabro · 12 Sep 2004

I'm one of seven siblings with unusual names. Most of our first names are Japanese, but some are just strange-- i think because my dad was trying to be creative. Almost all of us use the rare names we were given rather than our anglicized middle names. Any although I get "asked the same damned question over and over again" I don't feel at all doomed.

I am and I always will be Sabro (and NEVER Francis.)

Also: Check out my brother Sesshu's books on Amazon. Just type in Sesshu Foster-- you won't be sorry.

Vodkee · 14 Sep 2004

Johnathan said:
We decided on Ten'yo.

天与【てんよ】 (kanji info)
godsend; heaven's gift

I think that is a beautiful name Ten'yo. Who cares what other people think anyway? After all, all names are weird in their own way.

RinniGal · 14 Sep 2004

I think that Tenyo is cute... My son's name is Ringo and while I got a few negative reactions to the name, I got many more positives. I always have to explain he is not named after RIngo Starr though... If you are worried about the name thing, do what I did, give him a good middle name, and if he grows to not like his name, have him go by his middle name in school.
ciao ciao, Sheena

Minxie · 15 Sep 2004

I think its a unique and cool name... its cool that you have a name like that... its original and its not boring like john or mike...

jovial_jon · 15 Sep 2004

Minxie said:
its original and its not boring like john or mike...

Thanks!

Dream Time · 15 Sep 2004

Tenyo is a feminine name in Japanese???

I didn't know that
there are many Chinese guys with the name Tenyo [pronounced Tin Yau in Cantonese or Tan Yao in Mandarin]

playaa · 15 Sep 2004

I agree it all depends on where you live, but I would agree having a western first name these days is easier no matter where you are, because they are so simple and plain (Which I think is a bad thing). Though I think my favorite Japanese name would have to be Rin, for a girl (No I didn't copy Inuyasha).

Japanese Baby Name

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Where I'm Supposed to Be

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