Names in Nihongo

[Fehrant]

So, despite having limited knowledge in a subject (Japanese), I wanted to make up a nickname, but I'm not familiar with how readings of names and lastnames (let alone a nickname) work. Of course, this is not to say I have not seen kanji of nicknames, and their respective romaji. From my experience, I've seen that the correct reading of a name/last name is pretty much irregular; it doesn't follow any rules. To put it in more technical terms, some kanji might be read in onyomi, but others in kunyomi, sometimes everything is kun, or on.

Now, a nickname might be more complicated (at least the type that I'm looking for), because unlike the name (and sometimes lastname) that doesn't necessarily have to mean something in its entirety and can be a set of isolated kanji, the nickname has to.

One of my favorite kanji is 狼 (ookami/rou), or rather I like wolves, so I thought about using that in a nickname. However, when I tried to add a second kanji to it, I ended up not liking the sound. Then again, was I thinking about the right readings? That's what concerns me.

I just wanted anyone willing to explain me a bit about Japanese names, and how they are read, I even saw in some cases that the kanji used weird readings that wouldn't otherwise be used in words at all. I just want to know what I need to keep in mind (general naming rules, I guess?), so that I can create a decent nickname.

 

[nice gaijin]

i guess the question is, do you want a Japanese name as a nickname, a Japanese word as a nickname, or a Japanese-sounding pseudo-word?

 

[Fehrant]

True. I admit I might have been a bit vague, here. Well, you know, if you look at Japanese names, and try to make something out of all the kanji in the name, you'll end up with something that might not make much sense. Then again, you might.

I'm looking for a nickname, and I placed emphasis on this word because a nickname, at least the type I'm thinking, has to make some sense. For example, as I was trying to make up a name, I thought of what kanji to combine with ookami; I thought of 冬, I thought of 夜... things like that so the nickname would end up being a title in itself (winter wolf) but at the same time would have a nice sound to it.

At any rate, it's not that I pretend you guys to come up with a nickname for me. I just would like you to give me some general examples and tips on actual names, and if you'd like, nicknames. For instance, as I mentioned before, I noticed that names can use on and kun reading combined together. I noticed that kanji meanings that end in つ and are followed by another word, just double the constant, pretty much like 殺 (satsu) + 気 (ki) would end up being "sakki". I'm talking about things like that. I am fairly new to kanji, but I know kanji names are a whole different world, and as far as I could tell, they don't follow a set of rules. Yet, I'd like to know, and see some examples, so that helps me have some pointers in mind when making a nickname.

Again, I just want to say that I don't pretend you guys to come up with a nickname for me. I just want to know how combined kanji names work. That's all.

 

[Glenn]

It's probably fair game, but I don't know about 冬狼 or 夜狼: those don't make sense to me. I would suggest going with all on or all kun once you've decided on characters, though. Also, you can make a name out of a kanji and an English word, although I doubt you want to do that.

I came up with 小龍 for myself, and read it しょうりゅう, as that seemed to be the best combinations of readings for those two characters. Then I found out that it was what Bruce Lee was called. Nowadays I go by 小瀧, due to my girlfriend not being able to get 小龍 right. That one is read こたき. One of my friends gave me the kanji 紅蓮 for グレン, which is pretty nice. As a side note, I also have a Chinese name: 謝葛仁, which as far as I know is read Xìe Gěrén (I don't even want to try to put that one into Japanese... しゃかつじん?... eh).

Anyway, I think one thing that's important is to run the characters you've chosen by a Japanese person, because only they'll be able to tell you if it makes sense to Japanese people. Plus they can give you confirmation or pointers on what readings to choose. Well, good luck!

 

[Fehrant]

Thanks for the pointers, Glenn, and the tidbits of information from your experience. Though our knowledge gap is huge, I still appreciate it.

 

[Tomii515]

omg my nickname for Japanese a bet no one else has cause it's sooooooo originalll OoooOO it's トミー Ｏｏｏｏ Ｉ'ｍ ｇｏｏｄ ；－）

 

[nice gaijin]

I came up with 小龍 for myself, and read it しょうりゅう, as that seemed to be the best combinations of readings for those two characters.

I've been hanging around with my pun-loving host dad too much, cause I read that as こたつ

 

[The7thSamurai]

Read a good article on Japanese names last night. Quite interesting...

JAT Web: A Maze of Japanese First Names

A Maze of Japanese First Names

by Thomas Elliott


Reading Japanese first names can be difficult, mainly because of the multiple readings of Chinese characters, based on Japanese and Chinese pronunciations.

Over 130 characters are said to have 10 or more possible name readings, and the common first-name elements taka and nori for men's names can be written with 168 and 225 different characters, respectively. Koh, another first-name element, supposedly can be written with over 300 characters.

In feudal days, the lower classes generally did not have family names. They had first names to which they sometimes added a prefix to indicate their trade or where they lived or were born.

Shimizu no Jirocho, for example, was a popular Godfather-like character born in Shimizu. Hidari Jingoro was a well-known left-handed (hidari) temple carpenter and sculptor. ("Lefty" Jingoro, a great name!) Most Japanese still recognize the old first name "Kuma" as being tied to carpenters, and the nickname "Hatchan" (from the 八 hachi of 八百屋 yaoya, "greengrocer") as belonging to, yes, greengrocers.

Women's first names with two syllables -- or one character -- plus -ko (子), such as Sakiko (沙紀子), Yuriko (百合子 ), and Hisako (久子) were practically non-existent in the early Meiji period. By the mid-1930s, though, something like 80% of the first names of women had -ko as their suffix. To this day, the majority of Japanese women's names still end in -ko. Other common suffixes for women's first names are 恵 e, such as in Yukie 幸恵, and 美 mi, such as in 香久美 Kagumi.

For men, first names using two characters of two syllables each came into common use from around the mid-1920s. These include names such as Toshiaki 敏明, Kunihiko 邦彦, and Nobuhiro 伸博. Although the Japanese reading is almost always used for these characters, a person will occasionally use the Chinese reading for his first name to shorten it or make it sound more sophisticated, possible because of Japan's cultural ties to China.

The novelist Kikuchi Hiroshi 菊池寛 (1888-1948), for example, called himself Kikuchi Kan -- "Kan" being the Chinese reading for "Hiroshi."

A person's nickname also often comes from the Chinese reading of one or both characters used in his/her name. I know a fellow named 典照 Noriaki who everyone calls "Tensho," the Chinese reading for the characters.

Another fellow with the last name 丸 Maru is called "Gan-chan." "Gan" is the Chinese reading for 丸.

For men's first names, a single character with three syllables is used fairly commonly. Besides the 寛 ("Hiroshi") of Kikuchi Kan's name, Hiroshi can also be written using 博, 広, ?_, ?m, ?L, ?G, ?O, and 大 -- as well as other characters.

Men's names frequently have the suffix 郎 ro (太郎 Taro), 男 o (春男 Haruo), 夫 o (幸夫 Yukio), or 雄 o (道雄 Michio), or a number to indicate either seniority in the family or, if there are female siblings, what number son he is. Examples of men's names with the number in front and in back of the first name are 一男 (Kazuo) and 健一 (Ken'ichi) for the first son, 二郎 (Jiro) and 健二 (Kenji) for the second son, and 三郎 (Saburo) and 健三 (Kenzoh) for the third son.

First names of men such as 周七 (Shuchichi, with the number 7) and 八五郎 (Hachigoro, with the numbers 8 and 5) are not uncommon, and could mean either that the child was the seventh or eighth boy, or, more likely, was the seventh or eighth child in the family. Men's names like 三十郎 (Sanjuro, with the number 30) , 三十五 (Sanjugo, which means 35), and 五十六 (Isoroku, meaning 56) comprise a special category. They assuredly do not mean either the 30th (35th, 56th) boy or child in the family. More likely, the names refer to the age of the father, the weight of the baby, or maybe the date of the child's birth.

The first name Kazuji 一二 uses the characters for 一ichi (one) and 二 ni (two). Meaning? Ask Kazuji. (Or better yet, ask Mark Schreiber. He sent me the name.)

The Japanese government has limited to about 2,050 the number of characters used for first names, but has set no legal restrictions on the readings given the characters.

As if to test democracy in Japan, about two years ago a man up north somewhere moved to register his son's name using the characters 悪魔 (Akuma "devil"). But the town authorities balked, asking him to reconsider the negative effect such a name might have on his son later in life. The father refused at first, saying it was a free country and it was his son, but the media picked up the story, the social pressure mounted, and he finally relented.

That story reminded me of the American C&W song, "A Boy Named Sue," a song about a father naming his son "Sue" (a girl's name, short for "Susan") so the boy would have to fight when young and thus grow up tough enough to make his way through life.

"Akuma" is not a "sissy" name, of course, and the characters for the name are not difficult character to read. But the name is not fortuitous, and Japanese choose first names principally for their pleasant associations.

For example, a first name may contain a wish of the parents for a child. For a baby boy, for example, names such as 哲夫 Tetsuo, "Man of Philosophy") or 博士 (Hiroshi, "Man of Broad Knowledge"). Or, for a baby girl, 幸恵 (Yukie, "Blessed with Luck"), 優美 (Yumi, "Grace" or "Elegance"), or 栄美 (Emi, "Flourishing Beauty").

Parents also give their children names of favorite persons or heroes/heroines. When the present Emperor Heisei and Empress Michiko were married in April 1959, for instance, there was a boom in naming girls "Michiko."

Anyway, you can memorize the general rules and the thousands of possible readings for names and still not be certain whether the boy's name 信二 in front of you is read Shinji or Nobuji. If a girl's name were written 信子, however, you could bet your Jumbo Takarakuji winnings it is read Nobuko. Knowing that comes from knocking around.