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April 2nd, 2008 | help Need help?

Learn Japanese Culture at JapanesePod101.com! In today’s podcast, Miki is talking about how and why Japanese people choose names. We’ll learn about kanji stroke count, kanji meaning and using kanji for Nihonrashikunai namae (non-Japanese names). All in all this is a really interesting audio blog. After listening, stop by JapanesePod101.com and be sure to leave her a post!

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Voice Actors: Miki | Hosts:
Category: Audio Blog |
Topic: , , | Politeness Level:
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Audio Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

20 Responses to “Audio Blog #76 - Names”

avatar JapanesePod101.com says:

みなさんこんにちは、美樹のブログです。

みなさんは自分の名前がどのようにして付けられたか知っていますか?
日本では子供の名前を決める時、親が重視することの一位は漢字の画数で、二位は名前の響きの良さ、三位は名字とのバランス、四位が名前に込める親の願いだそうです。
例えば「幸子」という名前なら、「幸せな子」になりますようにという願いが込められているのではないかと想像することができますね。
子供の名前は何でも良いというわけではありません。名前に使える漢字は限られています。しかし、漢字の読み方のルールは決められていないため、漢字をどのように読むかは自由です。そのため、最近は個性的な読み方をする子供の名前がとても増えています。名前は子供への最初のプレゼントですから、他の人とは違うものが良いと考える親が多いのでしょう。

個性的な名前の例として、「虹色」と書いて「そら」、「一二三」と書いて「ワルツ」、「月愛」と書いて「るな」、「聖」と書いて「マリア」、「宇宙」と書いて「コスモ」などがあるそうです。その他にも「月女神」と書いて「ディアナ」、「梨里衣」と書いて「リリィ」など、日本人らしくない名前も多いようです。
こんなに難しい読み方の名前を持つ子供が増えたら、学校の先生は大変ですね。個性的な名前をつけたがる親が多い時こそ、シンプルに子供への思いが分かる「○○子」などの名前のほうが逆に目立つのかもしれません。

みなさんの国では子供の名前をつける時に重視することは何ですか?
それでは、また来週!

avatar _petiteclaire_ says:

Hi Miki-sensei !!!!

(sorry, I’m away from a japanese-enabled computer for a few days…).

Japanese names and kanji are so difficult !!! I think it’s the most difficult thing in reading, because you can never know how they’re supposed to be pronounced, and most dictionaries don’t help. It’s a real problem in novels.

I think in western countries names are mostly chosen according to fads, and personal liking. There are a lot of kids named after people who were famous when they were born. When France won the football world cup in 1998, a lot of boys were called Zinedine after french football player Zinedine Zidane (Zinedine is not a french first name, it’s from Kabylia). People also try to pay attention to alternate meanings and possible puns. And they might also choose according to their hobbies and job. My father teaches ancient greek at the Sorbonne university, and considered naming me Athena :mrgreen: . Later, he thought of Alexandre for my younger brother (after famous greek general Alexander the Great), and my parents finally chose Olivier, which can also mean “olive tree” in french, after the symbolic greek tree.

There are names with auspiscious meaning like “Désiré/Désirée” ( meaning “desired”) in french, but they are mostly old and sound slightly outdated now.

avatar Eric says:

僕は親に同じような質問を聞いた。父は僕の名前をつけた時に重視したのが名前の響きだったぞうだ。

先回台湾に旅行した時にある有名な占いに行って占い師に僕の未来を聞いた。

あの占い師によると人生の未来とか幸福とか全部漢字の画数で決めたはずだそうだ。 :neutral:

avatar Neil says:

I named my daughter Kimberly in part so I could call her “Kimi” when she was little.

avatar ニール says:

I don’t understand this lesson. How can a person just decide koseiteki that a kanji should be read differently than the accepted reading? My daughter is having a daughter soon. I think I will have her named “Madonna” which is pronounced “Beverly”!!

avatar OkayamaS says:

There are name readings…. they are also accepted readings…

Go back to the original jPod lessons. Do you remember Kazunori?
His kanji was 一徳 - that’s not a normal reading….

It’s the beautify of Japanese Kanji. :kokoro:

avatar OkayamaS says:

Do Jpod Staff have children? I’m curious what their kanji are! 教えてもらいたいのですが!!

avatar rigo says:

Hello Miki san
nice topic , choosibg names is very difficult in my opinion
i like italian names for men and japanese for women like Shizuka

avatar TempleUniJP says:

I love the new blogs and Yuichi and Kiyoku are awesome additions! :dogeza: They are great hosts togeather and really bring alot more to these blogs! You should list their names in the Voice actors section.
I havent written recently becuase ive been so busy, but I wanted to let you know becuase of your show and how it has increased my Japanese abilities soo much, that ive been able to get a job interning at the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia. We are preparing for our big Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival,so if anyone reading this is living in the Philadelphia Area, you should come check out the festival! We have 2 weeks full of events, many which are free! Sunday, the 13th is our big Sakura Sunday Festival!. Please visit our website! Especially if you are on the US East Coast !
http://jasgp.org/
Check out my blog I write for konnichwa Philadelphia!
Thanks JP101!

avatar Glenn says:

Hi there Miki-san

Very apt lesson for me today as I just found out that some friends of mine from Japan had a baby girl on Sunday. They named her - Isis. Not really a very common name but Isis was the head goddess of Ancient Egypt and I think it is a really cool name.

I actually remember a few years back that a family in Japan tried to name their child アクマ which was put as 悪魔. This means devil. But I believe that the parents had to change the name as it was unacceptable. Does anyone else remember this story from around 7 years ago.

avatar maxiewawa says:

何でも無い!実は、私の名前はお父さんと同じ!Max!

avatar Kim says:

Hi, Miki

In Asian countries especially such as Japan,China and Korea, We use Kanji.
So We give our children kanji name representing the good meaning such as “good luck or famous etc”.
My name was presented by my father, Kanji is 成燁(accmplished and well known).
But today we’ve got some change for naming the children. we give our children the pure korean namesnot kanji. They are easy to call and hear too nice.

so Mattane.

avatar Hyunwoo(ヒョヌ) says:

美樹さんのブログはいつも楽しみにしているのですけど、このレッスンは特に助かりました!韓国人もこの上のコメントにKimさんが書いてくれたように一般的に皆漢字名を持っているんですけど普通、聞かれる前にはあまりどういう意味の名前だというのを考えていないんですので、日本人の友達や知り合いの人が自分の名前を紹介するとき名前の意味を言ってくれるとすごく不思議って感じで、あるときはうらやましいです。kk

僕の名前も漢字で書くと勿論意味がありますが、僕はただ発音や響きがきれいだから好きです^^。

ところで、漢字の画数は、何が良くて何が悪いんですか? :-)

avatar //digitaljo says:

なるほど。ブログの前に日本人の名前作れます。キラキラnameと言うサイトです。全部の日本語ですけど、キーワードをインプットしてほかのオプションを選んで色々な名前あげます。画数を選べます。画数の結果があります。よくても悪くても画数の理由を読めます。

キラキラname
http://www.willcode.co.jp/kirakira/kensaku.aspx?tk=1

avatar //digitaljo says:

忘れちゃいました。日本らしくない名前もあります。

avatar Yuichi says:

 みなさんは、名前の音で子どもの名前を決めることが多いみたいですね :smile:

>OkayamaSさん
一徳 - that’s not a normal reading
It’s the beautify of Japanese Kanji.

There are so many irregular reading in NAMEs. But, as you say, that’s one of the interesting parts of Kanji. Because parents can give their wish to their child’s name using kanji’s meaning. For example, my friend has a name 大心. It is literally だいしん.But actual reading is こころ.

avatar Yuichi says:

>Glenn
I actually remember a few years back that a family in Japan tried to name their child アクマ which was put as 悪魔. This means devil. But I believe that the parents had to change the name as it was unacceptable. Does anyone else remember this story from around 7 years ago.

I know :razz:
And I found an article written about it in Wikipedia :shock:

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%82%AA%E9%AD%94%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%82%93%E5%91%BD%E5%90%8D%E9%A8%92%E5%8B%95

avatar Yuichi says:

>ヒョヌ
久しぶり :grin: 元気ですか?KoreanClass101楽しく聞いてます :wink:

ところで、漢字の画数は、何が良くて何が悪いんですか?
→なんか、いろいろと流派があって、それごとに漢字の画数の数え方が違うらしいです。
だから、Aという所で画数を調べてもらったら、良かったのに、Bというところで調べてもらったら良くないってこともあるみたいです :sad:  なので、難しいみたいですね。

インターネットで、画数診断ができるので、漢字の名前がある人は調べてみてはどうでしょうか。
http://www.sam.hi-ho.ne.jp/takanishi/name-top.htm

avatar Jonathan says:

希佳子さんと祐一さんという名前の書き方ですね。
皆さん、非常に役立つレッスンをしていただきありがとうございます!
毎週は極めていい勉強になります。
:dogeza:

avatar LosAngeles says:

Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.

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