Name Reading

[Glenn]

I don't suppose anyone would know how to read the name 保節, would they? I was guessing まのり, or maybe もりとも, but I really have no idea. If I can't get a reading, could someone tell me where I can find out about this? Thanks.

 

[epigene]

Is that family name + first name?

保 can be read "Tamotsu" or "Bou"

節 variables, including Setsu, Takashi, Makoto, etc., and can be found in the possible name readings in your Kanwa dictionary.

However, with the crazy name readings that are rampant today, anything is possible!

 

[Glenn]

This is a given name. The guy was a judge for the 横浜家庭裁判所 back in 1955, so it isn't a recent crazy name. I don't know if that helps you at all. I just checked my 新漢語林 and there are a veritable plethora of possibilities for both characters available for name readings.

 

[epigene]

That means there are myriad possibilities. I wouldn't even dare make an educated guess.

However, my husband says "Yasutaka" is a possibility...

 

[Glenn]

Great. How am I supposed to find this out? I tried searching with Google, checked Wikipedia, and even tried looking around 横浜家庭裁判所, and nothing seems to come up. I can't just make something up for it. Oh well, thanks for helping me out.

 

[epigene]

Great. How am I supposed to find this out? I tried searching with Google, checked Wikipedia, and even tried looking around 横浜家庭裁判所, and nothing seems to come up. I can't just make something up for it. Oh well, thanks for helping me out.

Even educated Japanese native speakers can't tell. Only people who have information on him and/or his family can read the name correctly.

It is OK to admit you can't read it in a case like this.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, I don't really mind that normally, but it's for a translation. I feel like I have to get it right for the sake of accuracy. You know? I'm not so sure it'd be acceptable to put on the translation that it's next to impossible to find out. Although, I did consider writing to 横浜家庭裁判所 and asking them if they could tell me how to read his name. I suppose it's worth a shot. Thanks again.

 

[Elizabeth]

That means there are myriad possibilities. I wouldn't even dare make an educated guess.
However, my husband says "Yasutaka" is a possibility...

Or correspondingly "Hotaka" ? That "taka" with 保 may normally be 高？

お名前はどのようにお読みすればよろしいでしょうか？

 

[Toritoribe]

Or correspondingly "Hotaka" ? That "taka" with 保 may normally be 高？

Here's 名乗り(readings specific to names) for both kanji. Some of them are rarely ever used, though.

保: お, たもつ, ほ, ほう, まもる, もち, もり, やす, やすし, より
節: お, さだ, せつ, たか, たかし, たけ, とき, とも, のり, ふ, ふし, まこと, みさ, みさお, みね, もと, よ, よし

Thus, 保節 can have dozens of possible readings, as @Glenn -san and @epigene -san wrote.
(What came to my mind before consulting a dictionary was やすとき for 保節.)

 

[Elizabeth]

Here's 名乗り(readings specific to names) for both kanji. Some of them are rarely ever used, though.
保: お, たもつ, ほ, ほう, まもる, もち, もり, やす, やすし, より
節: お, さだ, せつ, たか, たかし, たけ, とき, とも, のり, ふ, ふし, まこと, みさ, みさお, みね, もと, よ, よし
Thus, 保節 can have dozens of possible readings, as Glenn-san and epigene-san wrote.
(What came to my mind before consulting a dictionary was やすとき for 保節.)

Thank you ! I wasn't trying to pin anything down further. It was only an assumption that the listings in my standard kanji-English dictionary : ほ（う）、やす and たけし、みさお、せつ、とき may be among the more common possibilities.


日本では、たとえば、名刺に漢字で書かれた名前の読みを知りたいとか、相手の名前が聞きたい場合とか、自己紹介する機会はとても便利ですね。自分の名前を言えばまず相手は名前を返してくるでしょうね。 だから「名前はどの様に書きますか？」のような表現はあまり使う必要がありませんね。