Japanese name - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

in modern times usually consist of a family name

Family name

A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...

(surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

), followed by a given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

. "Middle name

Middle name

People's names in several cultures include one or more additional names placed between the first given name and the surname. In Canada and the United States all such names are specifically referred to as middle name; in most European countries they would simply be regarded as second, third, etc....

s" are not generally used.
Japanese names are usually written in kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

, which are characters of usually Chinese origin in Japanese pronunciation. The kanji for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations, but parents might use hiragana

Hiragana

is a Japanese syllabary, one basic component of the Japanese writing system, along with katakana, kanji, and the Latin alphabet . Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems, in which each character represents one mora...

or katakana

Katakana

is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...

when giving a birth name to their newborn child. Names written in hiragana

Hiragana

or katakana

Katakana

are phonetic renderings, and so lack the visual meaning of names expressed in the logographic kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

.

Japanese family names are extremely varied: according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan. Common family names in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

include Satō (most common), Suzuki

Suzuki (disambiguation)

Suzuki is a Japanese motorcycle and automobile brandSuzuki, Lateolabrax japonicus, is a fish of Lateolabracidae family...

(second most common), and Takahashi

Takahashi

-Geographical locations:*Takahashi , a city in Okayama prefecture, Japan*Takahashi River, a river in Japan-Other:*Ward-Takahashi identities, a feature of Quantum Mechanics...

(third most common). This diversity is in stark contrast to the situation in other Sinosphere

Sinosphere

In areal linguistics, Sinosphere refers to a grouping of countries and regions that are currently inhabited with a majority of Chinese population or were historically under Chinese cultural influence...

nations, there being very few Chinese surname

Chinese surname

Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...

s (a few hundred common, 20 comprise half the population), and similarly Korean name

Korean name

A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' or 'seong-myeong' usually refers to the family name and given name together...

s (250 names, of which 3 comprise almost half the population) and Vietnamese name

Vietnamese name

Vietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...

s (about 100 family names, of which 3 comprise 60% of the population). This reflects different history: while Chinese surnames have been in use for millenia and were often reflective of an entire clan or adopted from nobles (without any genetic relationship) – and were thence transferred to Korea and Vietnam via noble names, modern Japanese family names date only to the 19th century, following the Meiji restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, and were chosen creatively. The recent introduction of surnames has two additional effects: Japanese names became widespread when the country had a very large population (over 30,000,000 during the early Meiji era – see Demographics of Imperial Japan) instead of dating to ancient times (population estimated at 300,000 in 1 CE, for instance – see Demographics of Japan before Meiji Restoration

Demographics of Japan before Meiji Restoration

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Japan before Meiji Restoration.-Total population:Before the establishment of system by the Tokugawa shogunate, several less reliable sources remain upon which an estimate of the population of Japan can be made...

), and since little time has passed, Japanese names have not experienced as significant surname extinction as has occurred in the much longer history in China.

Surnames occur with varying frequency in different regions; for example, the names Chinen , Higa , and Shimabukuro are common in Okinawa but not in other parts of Japan; this is mainly due to differences between the language and culture of Yamato people

Yamato people

is a name for the dominant native ethnic group of Japan. It is a term that came to be used around the late 19th century to distinguish the residents of the mainland Japan from other minority ethnic groups who have resided in the peripheral areas of Japan, such as the Ainu, Ryukyuan, Nivkh, Ulta, as...

and Okinawans. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the rural landscape; for example, Ishikawa

Ishikawa

-Places:*Ishikawa Prefecture*Ishikawa-gun, district, Ishikawa Prefecture*Ishikawa-gun, district, Fukushima Prefecture*Ishikawa-machi, town, Fukushima Prefecture*Ishikawa-shi, city, Okinawa Prefecture-Real people:*Alexandre Ishikawa, Brazilian director...

means "stone river", Yamamoto means "the base of the mountain", and Inoue

Inoue

Inoue is the 17th most common Japanese surname. It can also be romanized as Inouye.- People :In politics or business:...

means "above the well".

While family names follow relatively consistent rules, given names are much more diverse in pronunciation

Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....

and character usage. Male names often end in -rō ( "son", but also "clear, bright"; e.g. "Ichirō

Ichiro

, also written Ichiro, is a Japanese given name. It is a Japanese name occasionally given to a first son.Like many Japanese names, Ichirō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:* 一郎: "first son"* 一朗: "first clear, bright"-People:...

") or -ta ( "great, thick"; e.g. "Kenta"), or contain ichi ( "first [son]"; e.g. "Ken'ichi

Ken'ichi

is a very common masculine Japanese given name. This is pronounced as "Ken-ichi", not "Ke-ni-chi".-Possible writings:Ken'ichi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:*健一, "healthy, one"*賢一, "wise, one"*謙一, "humble, one"...

"), kazu (also written with 一 "first [son]", along with several other possible characters; e.g. "Kazuhiro"), ji ( "second [son]" or "next"; e.g. "Jirō

Jiro (given name)

is a stand-alone Japanese given name along with "Tarō", and a common name suffix for males.-Possible writings:Jirō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean:*次郎, "next, son"*次朗, "next, melodious"*二郎, "second, son"*二朗, "second, melodious"...

"), or dai ( "great, large"; e.g. "Daiichi") while female names often end in -ko ( "child"; e.g. "Keiko") or -mi ( "beauty"; e.g. "Yumi

Yumi

is the Japanese term for bows, and includes the longer and the shorter used in the practice of kyūdō, or Japanese archery. The yumi was an important weapon of the samurai warrior during the feudal period of Japan.-History of the yumi:...

"). Other popular endings for female names include -ka ( "scent, perfume" or "flower"; e.g. "Reika

Reika

Reika is a Japanese given name. It can refer to several people and fictional characters.People:*Reika Hashimoto, actress/model*Reika Okina, a singer known for singing the opening song to the anime LovelessFictional characters:...

") and -na .

Structure

The majority of Japanese people

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

have one surname and one given name with no middle name, except for the Japanese imperial family

Imperial House of Japan

The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the Yamato Dynasty, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the emperor is the symbol of the state and unity of the people...

, whose members bear no surname. The surname is called myōji ( or ), uji or sei , and the given name is called the "name" ( namae) or "lower name" ( shita no namae). The family name precedes the given name. The given name may be referred to as the "lower name" because, in vertically-written Japanese, the given name appears under the family name.

Historically, myōji, uji and sei had different meanings. Sei was originally the matrilineal surname. Later it became granted only by the emperor. There were relatively few sei, and most of the medieval noble clans trace their lineage either directly to these sei or to the courtiers of these sei. Uji was first used to designate patrilineal descent, but later merged with myōji around the same time sei lost its matrilineal significance. Myōji was, simply, what a family chooses to call itself, as opposed to the sei granted by the emperor. While it was passed on patrilineally, one had a certain degree of freedom in changing one's myōji. See also Kabane

Kabane

were hereditary titles used in ancient Japan to denote rank and political standing. There were more than thirty. Some of the more common kabane were omi, muraji, , , , , , and ....

.

There are a few names that can be used as either surnames or given names (for example Mayumi , Kaneko , Masuko , or Arata ). In addition, to those familiar with Japanese names, which name is the surname and which is the given name is usually apparent, no matter which order the names are presented in. This thus makes it unlikely that the two names will be confused, for example when writing in English using the order family name, given name. However, due to the variety of pronunciations and differences in languages, some common surnames and given names may coincide when Romanized: e.g., (given name) and (surname).

Characters

Japanese names are usually written in kanji

Kanji

(Chinese characters), although some names use hiragana

Hiragana

or even katakana

Katakana

, or a mixture of kanji and kana

Kana

Kana are the syllabic Japanese scripts, as opposed to the logographic Chinese characters known in Japan as kanji and the Roman alphabet known as rōmaji...

. While most "traditional" names use kun'yomi (native Japanese) kanji readings, a large number of given names and surnames use on'yomi (Chinese-based) kanji readings as well. Many others use readings which are only used in names (nanori

Nanori

are kanji character readings found almost exclusively in Japanese names.In the Japanese language many names are constructed from common kanji characters with standard pronunciations. However, some characters occur only in names, and some standard characters have special pronunciations in names...

), such as the female name Nozomi . The majority of surnames comprise one, two or three kanji characters. There are also a small number of four or five kanji surnames, such as Teshigawara and Kutaragi , Kadenokōji , but these are extremely rare. The sound no, meaning "of", and corresponding to the character の, is often included in names but not written as a separate character, as in the common name 井上 (i-no-ue, well-of-top/above, top of the well), or historical figures such as Sen no Rikyū

Sen no Rikyu

, is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on chanoyu, the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of wabi-cha...

.

Male given names often use the characters "hiro" (宏, "expansive, wide"), "ki" ("tree," "standing"), and "ta" (太, "big," "fat"). Four syllable given names are common, especially in eldest sons.

As mentioned above, female given names often end in the syllable ko, written with the kanji meaning "child" , or mi, written with the kanji meaning "beautiful" .

The usage of -ko was much more common up to about the 1980s, but the practice does continue today. Male names occasionally end with the syllable ko, but very rarely using the kanji (most often, if a male name ends in ko, it ends in hiko, using the kanji ). Common male name endings are -shi and -o; names ending with -shi are often adjectives, e.g., Atsushi which might mean, for example, "(to be) faithful." In the past (before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

), names written with katakana were common for women, but this trend seems to have lost favour. Hiragana names for women are not unusual. Kana names for boys, particularly those written in hiragana, have historically been very rare. This may be in part because the hiragana script is seen as feminine; in medieval Japan, women generally were not taught kanji and wrote exclusively in hiragana.

By 2004 there was a trend of using hiragana instead of kanji in naming girls. Molly Hakes, author of The Everything Conversational Japanese Book: Basic Instruction For Speaking This Fascinating Language In Any Setting, said that this may have to do with using hiragana out of cultural pride, since hiragana is Japan's indigenous writing form, or out of not assigning a meaning to a girl's name so that others do not have a particular expectation of her.

Names cannot begin with the syllable n ; this is in common with other proper Japanese words, though colloquial words may begin with ん, as in んまい (nmai, variant of うまい, delicious). Some names end in n: the male names Ken, Shin, and Jun are examples. The syllable n should not be confused with the consonant "n," which names can begin with; for example, the female name Naoko or the male Naoya . (The consonant "n" needs to be paired with a vowel to form a syllable.)

One large category of family names can be categorized as "-tō" names. The kanji , meaning wisteria
Wisteria
Wisteria is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, that includes ten species of woody climbing vines native to the eastern United States and to China, Korea, and Japan. Aquarists refer to the species Hygrophila difformis, in the family Acanthaceae, as Water Wisteria...

, has the on'yomi tō (or, with rendaku

Rendaku

is a phenomenon in Japanese morphophonology that governs the voicing of the initial consonant of the non-initial portion of a compound or prefixed word...

, dō). Many Japanese people have surnames that include this kanji as the second character. This is because the Fujiwara clan gave their samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

surnames (myōji) ending with the first character of their name, to denote their status in an era when commoners were not allowed surnames. Examples include Atō, Andō, Itō (although a different final kanji is also common), Udō, Etō

ETO

ETO may refer to:* Early termination option in a contract* Earned time off* Earth to orbit* Efforts to Outcomes Software* Electronics Technology Office * Electro-Technical Officer* Emitter Turn-Off thyristor* Engineering, Technology, Operations...

, Endō

Endo (surname)

Endō or Endo is a Japanese surname. Persons with this surname include:* Akifumi Endō, Japanese voice actor* Akira Endo , a Japanese biochemist* Akira Endo , a Japanese-American music conductor...

, Gotō

Goto (name)

is a Japanese surname. People with the name include:*Aritomo Gotō, an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II*Ben Goto, a documentarist and novelist*Cassern S...

, Jitō

Jito

were medieval land stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi Shogunates. Appointed by the shogun, jitō managed manors including national holdings governed by the provincial governor ....

, Katō

Kato

Katō is the eleventh most common Japanese surname. It may refer to:-Given name:*Kato , a Korean-American music producer in Atlanta*Kato , a Danish DJ*Kato Callebaut, a Belgian singer...

, Kitō

Kito

Kito is an island in Lulunga district, in the Ha'apai islands of Tonga....

, Kudō

Kudo

Kudō is a Japanese family name.*KUDO is a radio station in Anchorage, Alaska, United States.*Kudo is a trade name of Kudo Solutions Limited....

, Kondō

Kondo

Kondō is a Japanese surname, and is sometimes used in other contexts.People named Kondo:* Koji Kondo, musician, composer* Dorinne K...

, Saitō, Satō, Shindō

Shindo

In Japanese, Shindo may refer to:In Japanese, Shindo or Shindō may refer to:-People:Japanese surnames, e.g. 新藤, 進藤:* Kaneto Shindō, Japanese film director* Naomi Shindō, Japanese voice actress-Fictional characters:...

, Sudō

Sudo

sudo is a program for Unix-like computer operating systems that allows users to run programs with the security privileges of another user...

, Naitō

Naito

is a Japanese family name can refer to:People* Bill Naito* Daisuke Naito* Naitō Genzaemon* Naitō Ienaga* Naitō Kiyokazu* Naitō Kiyonaga* Masahisa Naitoh* Masato Naito* Masatoshi Naitō* Naitō Nobuatsu* Naitō Nobuchika* Naitō Nobunari* Ryō Naitō...

, Bitō, and Mutō

Muto

Mutō is a Japanese surname. It is also romanized as Muto, Mutoh or Mutou.*Mutou Valley - valley in the Flaming MountainsPeople named Muto include:* Azumi Muto, actress...

. As already noted, some of the most common family names are in this list.

Japanese family names usually include characters referring to places and geographic features.

Difficulty of reading names

A name written in kanji may have more than one common pronunciation, only one of which is correct for a given individual. For example, the surname written in kanji as may be read either Tōkairin or Shōji. Conversely, any one name may have several possible written forms, and again, only one will be correct for a given individual. The character "" when used as a male given name may be used as the written form for "Hajime," "Hitoshi," "Ichi- / -ichi" "Kazu- / -kazu," and many others. The name "Hajime

Hajime

is the Japanese word meaning . In the Japanese traditional martial arts such as karate, judo, aikido and kendo, it is a verbal command to "begin". Hajime is also a common Japanese given name for males, although it is occasionally used as a surname....

" may be written with any of the following: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or . This many-to-many correspondence between names and the ways they are written is much more common with male given names than with surnames or female given names, but can be observed in all these categories. This can make the collation

Collation

Collation is the assembly of written information into a standard order. One common type of collation is called alphabetization, though collation is not limited to ordering letters of the alphabet...

, pronunciation

Pronunciation

, and romanization

Romanization

In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...

of a Japanese name a very difficult problem. For this reason, business cards often include the pronunciation of the name as furigana

Furigana

is a Japanese reading aid, consisting of smaller kana, or syllabic characters, printed next to a kanji or other character to indicate its pronunciation. In horizontal text, yokogaki, they are placed above the line of text, while in vertical text, tategaki, they are placed to the right of the line...

, and forms and documents often include spaces to write the reading of the name in kana (usually katakana).

A few Japanese names, particularly family names, include archaic versions of characters. For example the very common character shima, island, may be written as or instead of the usual . Some names also feature very uncommon kanji

Kanji

, or even kanji which no longer exist in modern Japanese

Jinmeiyo kanji

The are a set of 861 Chinese characters known as the "name kanji" in English. They are a supplementary set of characters that can be legally used in registered personal names in Japan, despite not being in that country's set of "commonly used characters" . As a rule, registered personal names may...

. Japanese people who have such names are likely to compromise by substituting similar or simplified characters.

An example of such a name is Saitō. There are two common kanji for sai here. The two sai characters have different meanings: means "together" or "parallel", but means "to purify". These names can also exist written in archaic forms, as 齊藤 and 齋藤 respectively.

Family names are sometimes written with idiosyncratic characters, called ateji

Ateji

In modern Japanese, primarily refers to kanji used phonetically to represent native or borrowed words, without regard to the meaning of the underlying characters. This is analogous to man'yōgana in pre-modern Japanese...

, that relate indirectly to the name as spoken. For example, would normally be read as shigatsu tsuitachi ("April 1st"), but as a family name it is read watanuki ("unpadded clothes"), because April 1 is the traditional date to switch from winter to summer clothes.

Most Japanese people and agencies have adopted customs to deal with these issues. Address book

Address book

An address book or a name and address book is a book or a database used for storing entries called contacts. Each contact entry usually consists of a few standard fields...

s, for instance, often contain furigana

Furigana

or ruby characters to clarify the pronunciation of the name. Japanese nationals are also required to give a romanized name for their passport

Passport

A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....

. The recent use of Japanese media using katakana when referring to Japanese celebrities who have gained international fame has started a fad among young socialite

Socialite

A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....

s who attempt to invoke a cosmopolitan flair using katakana names as a badge of honor. All of these complications are also found in Japanese place names.

Not all names are complicated. Some common names are summarized by the phrase tanakamura ("the village in the middle of the rice fields"): the three kanji: (ta, rice field), (naka, middle) and (mura, village), together in any pair, form a simple, reasonably common surname: Tanaka

Tanaka

is the fourth most common Japanese surname. The surname "Tanaka" refers to several different surnames written with different kanji: , , , , , , .-People:* Asuna Tanaka * Atsuko Tanaka voice actor* Atsuko Tanaka...

, Nakamura

Nakamura (surname)

Nakamura is the eighth most common Japanese surname.-People:*Nakamura - slayer of Akechi Mitsuhide*Akimasa Nakamura - astronomer*Aoi Nakamura - actor*Chise Nakamura - actress/gravure model*Daiki Nakamura - voice actor...

, Murata

Murata

In Japanese, Murata means ‘village rice paddy’. It is a surname and also a company name that is found throughout Japan, but not in large numbers...

, Nakata

Nakata

is a Japanese surname.Nakata as a name may refer to:*Daisuke Nakata , Japanese trampolinist and Sasuke competitor*Hidetoshi Nakata , Japanese football player*Hideo Nakata , Japanese film director...

(Nakada), Muranaka, Tamura

Tamura (surname)

Tamura is a Japanese surname and may refer to:*Akihide Tamura , Japanese photographer*Atsushi Tamura , Japanese comedian*Eriko Tamura , Japanese actress and singer*George T...

.

Despite these difficulties, there are enough patterns and recurring names that most native Japanese will be able to read virtually all family names they encounter and the majority of personal names.

Regulations

Kanji names in Japan are governed by the Japanese Ministry of Justice's rules on kanji use in names. there are 2,232 "name kanji" (the jinmeiyō kanji

Jinmeiyo kanji

) and "commonly used characters" (the jōyō kanji

Joyo kanji

The is the guide to kanji characters announced officially by the Japanese Ministry of Education. Current jōyō kanji are those on a list of 2,136 characters issued in 2010...

) used in personal names, and the Japanese government plans to increase this list by 578 kanji in the near future. This would be the largest increase since World War II

World War II

. Only kanji which appear on the official list may be used in given names. This is to intended ensure that names can be readily written and read by those literate in Japanese. Rules also govern names considered to be inappropriate; for example, in 1993 two parents who tried to name their child Akuma (悪魔, which literally means "devil") were prohibited from doing so after a massive public outcry.

Though there are regulations on the naming of children, many archaic characters can still be found in adults' names, particularly those born prior to the Second World War. Because the legal restrictions on use of such kanji

Kanji

cause inconvenience for those with such names and promote a proliferation of identical names, many recent changes have been made to increase rather than to reduce the number of kanji

Kanji

allowed for use in names. The Sapporo High Court held that it was unlawful for the government to deny registration of a child's name because it contained a kanji character that was relatively common but not included in the official list of name characters compiled by the Ministry of Justice. Subsequently, the Japanese government promulgated plans to increase the number of "permitted" kanji.

The use of a space in given names (to separate first and middle names) is not allowed, because technically, a space is not an allowed character.

The plan to increase the number of name kanji has been controversial, largely because Chinese characters meaning , , and , as well as those used in jukugo (words which are compounds of two or more kanji) meaning , and , are among the proposed additions to the list. This is because no measures were taken to determine the appropriateness of the kanji proposed. An example is , which is felt odd by majorities but its prohibition may be controversial because it is not uncommon for family names. The government will seek input from the public before approving the list.

Customs

In ancient times, people in Japan were considered the property of the Emperor and their surname reflected the role in the government they served. An example is Ōtomo

Otomo clan

The Ōtomo clan was a Japanese clan whose power stretched from the Kamakura period through the Sengoku period, spanning over 400 years. The clan's hereditary lands lay in Kyūshū....

(おおとも 'great attendant, companion'). Names would also be given in the recognition of a great achievement and contribution.

Until the Meiji restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, Japanese common people (people other than kuge

Kuge

The was a Japanese aristocratic class that dominated the Japanese imperial court in Kyoto until the rise of the Shogunate in the 12th century at which point it was eclipsed by the daimyo...

and samurai

Samurai

) had no surnames, and when necessary, used a substitute such as the name of their birthplace. For example, Ichirō born in Asahi mura (Asahi village) in the province of Musashi

Musashi Province

was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Prefecture, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama...

would say "Ichirō from Asahi-mura of Musashi". Merchants were named after their stores or brands (for example, Denbei, the owner of Sagamiya, would be Sagamiya Denbei), and farmers were named after their fathers (for example, Isuke, whose father was Genbei, would be "Isuke, son of Genbei"). After the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, the government ordered all commoners to assume surnames in addition to their given names: many people adopted historical names, others simply made names up, chose names through divination

Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...

, or had a Shinto or Buddhist priest choose a surname for them. This explains, in part, the large number of surnames in Japan, as well as their great diversity of spelling and pronunciation, and makes tracing ancestry past a certain point extremely difficult in Japan.

During the period when typical parents had several children, it was a common practice to name sons by numbers suffixed with rō . The first son would be known as "Ichirō", the second as "Jirō", and so on. Girls were often named with ko at the end of the given name; this should not be confused with the less common male suffix hiko . Both practices have become less common, although many children still have names along these lines.

While some people now may believe this, Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn , known also by the Japanese name , was an international writer, known best for his books about Japan, especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories, such as Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things...

(see below), in Shadowings, makes it clear that at least in his time (1880 to 1905, the date of publication), the ending -ko was not any part of the name, but an honorific suffix like -san. Particularly, even though the symbol was "child," it meant "Lady," was used only to upper-class females, and would have been ridiculous applied to middle-class or lower-class women. Pretty much the same names were used by all classes, but Hana-ko was upper class, while lesser women would be O-Hana-san, with honorific prefix as well as suffix.

Speaking to and of others

The way in which a name is used in conversation depends on the circumstances and the speaker's relationships with the listener and the bearer of the name. Typically the family name is used, with given names largely restricted to informal situations and cases where the speaker is older than, superior to, or very familiar with the named individual. When addressing someone, or referring to a member of one's out-group

Uchi-soto

Uchi-soto in the Japanese language is the distinction between in-groups and out-groups . This distinction between groups is not merely a fundamental part of Japanese social custom, but is also directly reflected in the Japanese language itself.The basic concept revolves around dividing people into...

, a title such as -san is typically added.

Japanese people often avoid referring to their seniors or superiors by name at all, using just a title: within a family this might be a kinship relation such as okāsan ("mother"), in a school it could be sensei ("teacher"), while a company president would be addressed as shachō ("company president").

On the other hand, pronominals meaning "you" ( anata, kimi, omae ) are used rather little in Japanese. Using such words sometimes sounds disrespectful, and people will commonly address each other by name, title and honorific even in face-to-face conversations.

Calling someone's name (family name) without any title or honorific is called yobisute (呼び捨て), and may be considered rude even in the most informal and friendly occasions. This faux pas, however, is readily excused for foreigners.

Nicknames

Corresponding to any given name there are one or more hypocoristic

Hypocoristic

A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...

s, affectionate nicknames. These are formed by adding the suffix -chan ちゃん to a stem. There are two types of stem. One consists of the full given name. Examples of this type are Tarō-chan from Tarō, Kimiko-chan from Kimiko, and Yasunari-chan from Yasunari. The other type of stem is a modified stem derived from the full given name. Examples of such names are: Taro-chan from Tarō, Kii-chan from Kimiko, and Yā-chan from Yasunari. Hypocoristics with modified stems are more intimate than those based on the full given name.

Hypocoristics with modified stems are derived by adding -chan to a stem consisting of an integral number, usually one but occasionally two, of feet

Foot (prosody)

The foot is the basic metrical unit that generates a line of verse in most Western traditions of poetry, including English accentual-syllabic verse and the quantitative meter of classical ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The unit is composed of syllables, the number of which is limited, with a few...

, where a foot consists of two mora

Mora (linguistics)

Mora is a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing. As with many technical linguistic terms, the definition of a mora varies. Perhaps the most succinct working definition was provided by the American linguist James D...

s. A mora is the unit of which a light syllable contains one and a heavy syllable two. For example, the stems that may be derived from Tarō are /taro/, consisting of two light syllables, and /taa/, consisting of a single syllable with a long vowel, resulting in Taro-chan and Tā-chan. The stems that may be derived from Hanako are /hana/, with two light syllables, /han/, with one syllable closed by a consonant, and /haa/, with one syllable with a long vowel, resulting in Hanachan, Hanchan, and Hāchan. The segmental content is usually a left substring of that of the given name. However, in some cases it is obtained by other means, including the use of another reading of the kanji

Kanji

used to write the name. For example, a girl named Megumi may be called Keichan or just Kei, because the character used to write the Megumi, , can also be read Kei.

The common Japanese practice of forming abbreviations by concatenating the first two morae

Mora (linguistics)

of two words is sometimes applied to names (usually those of celebrities). For example, , a famous Japanese actor and singer, becomes . This is sometimes applied even to non-Japanese celebrities: Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

, whose full name in Japanese is is commonly known as , and Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...

is abbreviated as . Some Japanese celebrities

Tarento

is a Japanese rendering of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Detractors of the phenomenon have referred to it in an English sense as "famous just for being famous" because many that fall into this career line...

have also taken names combining kanji and katakana, such as Terry Itō (テリー伊藤). Another slightly less common method is doubling one or two syllables of the person's name, such as the use of "MamiMami" for Mamiko Noto

Mamiko Noto

is a Japanese voice actress working under Office Osawa. She was born in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa, and graduated from Hokuriku Gakuen Senior High School.-Voice:...

Names from other ethnic groups in Japan

Many ethnic minorities, mostly Korean and Chinese, living in Japan adopt Japanese names. The roots of this custom go back to the colonial-era policy of sōshi-kaimei

Soshi-kaimei

Sōshi-kaimei was a policy created by Jiro Minami, Governor-General of Korea under the Empire of Japan, implemented upon Japanese subjects from Korea . As defined by Ordinance No...

, which permitted many Koreans to change their names to Japanese names. Nowadays, ethnic minorities, mostly Korean, who immigrated to Japan after the WWII, take on Japanese names, sometimes called pass names, to ease communication and, more importantly, to avoid discrimination

Discrimination

Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...

. A few of them (e.g., Han Chang-Woo, founder and chairman of Maruhan Corp.) still keep their native names.

Japanese citizenship used to require adoption of a Japanese name. In recent decades, the government has allowed individuals to simply adopt katakana versions of their native names when applying for citizenship: Parliament member Tsurunen Marutei

Marutei Tsurunen

is the first foreign-born Japanese of European origin serving as a member of the Diet of Japan. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Japan, where he serves as Director General of the International Department. He is currently serving in the House of Councillors.- Biography :Tsurunen was born...

, originally Martti Turunen, is a famous example. Others transliterate their names into phonetically similar kanji compounds, such as activist Arudou Debito

Arudou Debito

is an American-born Japanese English as a foreign language instructor, author and activist.-Early life:Arudou was born David Christopher Schofill in California in 1965. He grew up in rural upstate New York in a 140-year-old 10-room cobblestone house on over of land. In the 1970s he became David...

, previously David Aldwinckle. Still others have abandoned their native names entirely in favor of traditional Japanese names, such as Lafcadio Hearn

Lafcadio Hearn

, who used the name "Koizumi Yakumo" . At the time, to gain Japanese citizenship, it was necessary to be adopted by a Japanese family (in Hearn's case, it was his wife's family) and take their name.

Ethnic Chinese

Chinese people in Japan

Chinese people in Japan consist of migrants from China to Japan and their descendants. They have a history going back for centuries.- Population and distribution :...

and Korean

Zainichi Korean

Koreans in Japan are the ethnic Korean residents of Japan. They currently constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Japan. The majority of Koreans in Japan are Zainichi Koreans, also often known as Zainichi for short, who are the permanent ethnic Korean residents of Japan...

s in Japan who choose to renounce Permanent Resident status to apply for Japanese citizenship sometimes have to change the characters in their names to apply for citizenship, because of the restrictions on which kanji can be used.

Individuals born overseas with Western given names and Japanese surnames are usually given a katakana name in Western order when referred to in Japanese. Eric Shinseki

Eric Shinseki

Eric Ken Shinseki is a retired United States Army four-star general who is currently serving as the 7th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs. His final U.S. Army post was as the 34th Chief of Staff of the Army...

, for instance, is referred to as (Erikku Shinseki). However, sometimes Japanese parents decide to use Japanese order when mentioning the child's name in Japanese. Also, Japanese parents tend to give their children a name in kanji, hiragana or katakana, particularly if it is a Japanese name.

There is a restriction on the use of the "v" character in a name unless at least one of the parents is of foreign origin. The closest corresponding katakana is (vu), which can be romanized as v or b. This affects issuing of Japanese passport

Passport

s or other documentation where a romaji representation of the name is given; the letter v is replaced with b. This affects names such as Kevin , which would be written as Kebin.

Imperial names

The Japanese emperor

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

and his families have no surname for historical reasons, only a given name such as Hirohito

Hirohito

, posthumously in Japan officially called Emperor Shōwa or , was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from December 25, 1926, until his death in 1989. Although better known outside of Japan by his personal name Hirohito, in Japan he is now referred to...

, which is rarely used in Japan: Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince", out of respect and as a measure of politeness.

When children are born into the Imperial family, they receive a standard given name, as well as a special title. For instance, the title of Akihito (current Emperor, Tsugu-no-miya Akihito ) is Tsugu-no-miya ( "Prince Tsugu"), and was referred to as "Prince Tsugu" during his childhood. This title is generally used until the individual becomes heir to the throne or inherits one of the historical princely family names ( Hitachi-no-miya, Mikasa-no-miya, Akishino-no-miya, etc.).

When a member of the Imperial family becomes a noble or a commoner, the emperor gives him or her a family name. In medieval era, a family name "Minamoto

Minamoto clan

was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were demoted into the ranks of the nobility. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian Period , although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku Era. The Taira were another such offshoot of...

" was often used. In modern era, princely family names are used. For example, many members of the extended Imperial family became commoners after World War II

World War II

, and adopted their Imperial surnames as regular surnames. Conversely, at the time that a noble or a commoner become a member of the Imperial family, such as through marriage, his or her family name is lost. An example is Empress Michiko, whose name was Michiko Shōda before she married prince Akihito

Akihito

is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...

Historical names

The current structure (family name + given name) did not materialize until the 1870s when the government made the new family registration system.

In feudal Japan, names reflected a person's social status. They also reflect a person's affiliation to Buddhist, Shintō, feudatory-military, Confucian-scholarly, mercantile, peasant, slave and imperial orders.

Before feudal times, Japanese clan names figured prominently in history: names with no fall into this category. No means of and is similar in usage to the aristocratic von in German although the association is in the opposite order in Japanese, and is not generally explicitly written in this style of name. Thus, Minamoto no Yoritomo

Minamoto no Yoritomo

was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.-Early life and exile :Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the...

was Yoritomo of the Minamoto clan. Fujiwara no Kamatari

Fujiwara no Kamatari

Fujiwara no Kamatari was a Japanese statesman, courtier and politician during the Asuka period.Kamatari was the founder of the Fujiwara clan in Japan. His birth clan was the Nakatomi. He was the son of Nakatomi no Mikeko, and his birth name was Nakatomi no Kamatari...

, Ki no Tsurayuki

Ki no Tsurayuki

was a Japanese author, poet and courtier of the Heian period.Tsurayuki was a son of Ki no Mochiyuki. He became a waka poet in the 890s. In 905, under the order of Emperor Daigo, he was one of four poets selected to compile the Kokin Wakashū, an anthology of poetry.After holding a few offices in...

, and Taira no Kiyomori

Taira no Kiyomori

was a general of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan.After the death of his father Taira no Tadamori in 1153, Kiyomori assumed control of the Taira clan and ambitiously entered the political realm in which he...

are additional examples. These family names were recorded in Shinsen Shōjiroku

Shinsen Shojiroku

is an imperially commissioned Japanese genealogical record. Thirty volumes in length, it was compiled under the order of Emperor Saga by Princes Manda, Fujiwara no Otsugu, Fujiwara no Sonohito et al. It was initially completed in 814, but underwent a revision to be recompleted in 815.-Contents:The...

. Ryukyuan ruling class used names composed of kanji

Kanji

, usually of one or two syllables and read in their dialects, like Korean and Chinese names.

Historically, a Japanese person could maintain several names to use in different occasions. Among those that were common are azana, imina or okurina (either translate to posthumous name

Posthumous name

A posthumous name is an honorary name given to royalty, nobles, and sometimes others, in East Asia after the person's death, and is used almost exclusively instead of one's personal name or other official titles during his life...

) and gō (a pen name, Haigō or Haimei for a haiku

Haiku

' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

poet, Kagō for Waka

Waka (poetry)

Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

poet). It was not uncommon for one to have more than 10 names. http://www21.big.or.jp/~kirin/otya2.html

means the personal name of someone who is no longer living. After the death of someone given a , the real name would from that point be called the person's imina and would not be used anymore. Instead, the person would be referred to by his or her okurina. Imina are also used for Japanese emperors. Prior to Emperor Jomei

Emperor Jomei

was the 34th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Jomei's reign spanned the years from 629 through 641.-Traditional narrative:Before Jomei's ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name was or...

, the imina of the emperors were very long and not used. The number of characters in each name diminished after Jomei's reign.

Azana (字), which is given at Genpuku

Genpuku

or genbuku was an historical Japanese coming-of-age ceremony. The etymology is atypical; in this case means "head" and means "wearing". The ceremony is also known as , , , , and ....

, is used by others and one himself uses his real name to refer to him. Gō are commonly named after places or houses; e.g., Basho, as in the Haiku poet Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Basho

, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...

, is named after his house, Bashō-an .

In the late shogunate period, many anti-government activists used several false names to hide their activities from the shogunate. Examples are Saidani Umetarō for Sakamoto Ryōma

Sakamoto Ryoma

was a leader of the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. Ryōma used the alias .- Early life :Ryōma was born in Kōchi, of Tosa han . By the Japanese calendar, this was the sixth year of Tenpō...

, Niibori Matsusuke for Kido Takayoshi

Kido Takayoshi

, also referred as Kido Kōin was a Japanese statesman during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. He used the alias when he worked against the Shogun.-Early life:...

and Tani Umenosuke for Takasugi Shinsaku

Takasugi Shinsaku

was a samurai from the Chōshū Domain of Japan who contributed significantly to the Meiji Restoration.He used the alias to hide his activities from the shogunate.-Early life:...

. The famous writer Kyokutei Bakin

Kyokutei Bakin

was a late Japanese Edo period gesaku author best known for works such as Nansō Satomi Hakkenden and Chinsetsu Yumiharizuki.-Life:He was born as , he wrote under the pen name which is a pun as the kanji may also be read as Kuruwa de Makoto meaning a man who is truly devoted to the courtesans of...

is known to have had as many as 33 names.

Professional names

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

s and actresses in Western

Western culture

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...

and Japanese drama

Drama

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...

tic forms, comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

s, sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

wrestlers, Western-style professional wrestlers, and practitioners of traditional craft

Craft

A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...

s often use professional names. Many stage names of television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

and film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

actors and actresses are unremarkable, being just like ordinary Japanese personal names, but a few are tongue-in-cheek. For example, Kamatari Fujiwara

Kamatari Fujiwara

Kamatari Fujiwara was a Japanese actor.Born in Tokyo, he was a long-time member of director Akira Kurosawa's stock company, making his first appearance in a Kurosawa film alongside Takashi Shimura in 1952's Ikiru. He continued to appear in Kurosawa's films until his death...

chose the name of the aforementioned founder of the Fujiwara family

Fujiwara family

The Fujiwara clan , descending from the Nakatomi clan, was a powerful family of regents in Japan.The clan originated when the founder, Nakatomi no Kamatari , was rewarded by Emperor Tenji with the honorific "Fujiwara", which evolved as a surname for Kamatari and his descendants...

, while Hino Yōjin 's name sounds like be careful with fire (although written differently). Many stand-up comics like the duo Beat Takeshi

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

and Beat Kiyoshi choose a Western name for the act, and use their own (or stage) given names. Writers also tend to be clever about their names, for example Edogawa Rampo

Edogawa Rampo

, better known by the pseudonym , was a Japanese author and critic who played a major role in the development of Japanese mystery fiction. Many of his novels involve the detective hero Kogorō Akechi, who in later books was the leader of a group of boy detectives known as the .Rampo was an admirer...

which is designed to sound like "Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

".

Sumo

Sumo

wrestlers take wrestling names called shikona
Shikona
A shikona is a sumo wrestler's ring name.As with standard Japanese names, a shikona consists of a 'surname' and a 'given' name, and the full name is written surname first. However, the given name is rarely used outside formal or ceremonial occasions. Thus, the former yokozuna Asashōryū Akinori is...

( or ). While a shikona can be the wrestler's own surname, most upper-division rikishi have a shikona different from their surname. A typical shikona consists of one, two or three kanji. Often, part of the name comes from the wrestler's master, a place name (such as the name of a province

Provinces of Japan

Before the modern prefecture system was established, the land of Japan was divided into tens of kuni , usually known in English as provinces. Each province was divided into gun ....

, a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

, or a sea

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

), the name of a weapon, an item identified with Japanese tradition (like a koto

Koto (musical instrument)

The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed musical instrument, similar to the Chinese guzheng, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese đàn tranh. The koto is the national instrument of Japan. Koto are about length, and made from kiri wood...

or nishiki

Brocade

Brocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle-woven fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads. The name, related to the same root as the word "broccoli," comes from Italian broccato meaning "embossed cloth," originally past participle of the verb broccare...

), or a term indicating superiority. Often, waka indicates a wrestler whose father was also in sumo; in this case, the meaning is junior. Wrestlers can change their shikona, as Takahanada did when he became Takanohana and then Takanohana

Takanohana Koji

is a former sumo wrestler from Suginami, Tokyo, Japan. He was the 65th man in history to reach sumo's highest rank of yokozuna, and he won 22 tournament championships between 1992 and 2001, the fifth highest total ever...

. Another notable example is the wrestler Sentoryu, which means fighting war dragon but is also homophonous with St. Louis

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, his city of origin.

Geisha

Geisha

, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...

and practitioners of traditional crafts and arts such as pottery

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

, the tea ceremony

Tea ceremony

A tea ceremony is a ritualised form of making tea. The term generally refers to either chayi Chinese tea ceremony, chado Japanese tea ceremony, tarye Korean tea ceremony. The Japanese tea ceremony is more well known, and was influenced by the Chinese tea ceremony during ancient and medieval times....

, calligraphy

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

, irezumi

Irezumi

Irezumi is a Japanese word that refers to the insertion of ink under the skin to leave a permanent, usually decorative mark; a form of tattooing....

(tattooing) and ikebana

Ikebana

is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...

(flower arranging) often take professional names. In many cases, these come from the master under whom they studied. Kabuki

Kabuki

is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...

actors take one of the traditional surnames such as Nakamura , Bandō or Onoe. Some names are inherited on succession, such as that of the famous Kabuki actor Bandō Tamasaburō V

Bando Tamasaburo V

is a Kabuki actor, and the most popular and celebrated onnagata currently on stage. He has also acted in a handful of films....

(五代目坂東玉三郎 Godaime Bandō Tamasaburō) through a naming ceremony

Shumei

Shūmei are grand naming ceremonies held in Kabuki theatre. Most often, a number of actors will participate in a single ceremony, taking on new stage-names....

Japanese names in English

Beginning in Meiji Era Japan, in many English-language publications the naming order of modern day Japanese people is reversed from the traditional Japanese naming order, with the family name after the given name, instead of the given name after the family name. Japanese people adopted using western naming order in European languages as a part of the Meiji era adoption of aspects of western culture, as part of proving to the wider world that Japan was a developed country rather than an undeveloped country. When Japanese people attended events for the international community, such as balls, Japanese people used the western naming order.

Most foreign publications reverse the names of modern individuals, and most Japanese reverse their own names when creating materials for foreign consumption. A Japanese executive or official usually has two business cards (meishi

Meishi

A is a Japanese business card. The presentation of one's meishi to another person is more formal and ritualistic than in the west.- Presentation :A person is expected to present their meishi upon meeting a new business acquaintance...

): one in Japanese and intended for fellow Japanese, using Japanese order, and another intended for foreigners, with the name in Western order. In popular journalism publications, western order is used.

In English many historical figures are still referred to with the family name first. This is especially the case in scholarly works about Japan. Some books use western order for modern Japanese people and Japanese order for pre-Meiji era figures. Some books do not have consistent naming order practices. Shizuka Saeki of Look Japan
Look Japan
Look Japan was an English language magazine published from Japan. The offices of the publisher, Look Japan Ltd, were in the Asahi Seimei Hibiya Building in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. It was created to introduce Japan to foreigners unfamiliar with the country....

said, "This is not only a headache for writers and translators, it is also a source of confusion for readers." Lynne E. Riggs of the Society of Writers, Editors and Translators (SWET), a professional writing organization headquartered in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, said, "When you publish a book about Japan, you are publishing it for people who want to know about Japan. So they are interested in learning something new or something as it is supposed to be."

Edith Terry, author of How Asia Got Rich, said that because Japanese people are "mastering" a "Western game" people have some pride and at the same time feel insecurity because the "game" is on "Western terms" rather than "Japanese terms." The standard presentation of Japanese names in English differs from the standard presentations of modern Chinese name

Chinese name

Personal names in Chinese culture follow a number of conventions different from those of personal names in Western cultures. Most noticeably, a Chinese name is written with the family name first and the given name next, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be "Smith John-Paul"...

s, since modern Chinese names are usually not reversed to fit the western order in English, except when the Chinese person is living or traveling outside of China. Terry said, "it was one of the ironies of the late twentieth century that Japan remained stranded in the formal devices underlining its historical quest for equality with the West, while China set its own terms, in language as in big-power politics."

Saeki said in 2001 that most Japanese people writing in English use western order, but that some figures began to promote the usage of Japanese order as Japan became a major economic power in the 20th century. The Japan Style Sheet, a 1998 guide for producing English language works about Japan written by SWET, advocates the usage of the Japanese naming order as often as possible because the translators wanted to promote a consistency in naming order. In 1987, one publisher of English language textbooks in Japan used Japanese order, while in 2001 six of the eight publishers of English language textbooks in Japan use Japanese order. In December 2000 the Council on the National Language of the Ministry of Education recommended that English language productions begin using the Japanese naming order because "it is in general desirable that personal names be presented and written in a way that preserves their unique forms, except for registries and other documents with specific standards." It recommended using capitalization (YAMADA Taro) or commas (Yamada, Taro) to clarify which part of the personal name is the family name and which part is the given name. In a January 2000 opinion poll from the Agency for Cultural Affairs on the preferred order of Japanese names in the English language, 34.9% had a preference for Japanese order, 30.6% had a preference for Western order, and 29.6% had no preference. In 1986 the Japan Foundation

Japan Foundation

The was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry of Japan on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent...

decided that it would use the Japanese naming order in all of its publications. A Japan Foundation publishing division spokesperson stated that some SWET publications, including popular anglophone newspapers, continue to use western order. As of 2001 the agency's style sheet recommends using a different naming order style depending upon the context. For instance it advocates using the western order in publications for readers who are not familiar with Japan, such as international conference papers.

As this differs from the ordering used in many other parts of the world, some, particularly academics, adopt the convention of writing the family name in upper case when the name is romanized: for example, Takuya MURATA or MURATA Takuya. Artists whose works are distributed in English outside of Japan often opt for a Western ordering on the English editions of their works: e.g., Ryuichi Sakamoto

Ryuichi Sakamoto

After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...

( Sakamoto Ryūichi), Shunji Iwai

Shunji Iwai

is a Japanese film director/video artist, writer and documentarian.-Life and career:Iwai was born in Sendai, Japan, Miyagi prefecture. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987....

( Iwai Shunji), and Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami

is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Franz Kafka Prize and Jerusalem Prize among others.He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature...

( Murakami Haruki). Japanese living overseas, such as Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

( Ono Yōko) and Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki

, usually known simply as is a Major League Baseball right fielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for hits with 262...

( Suzuki Ichirō), usually use the Western order as well.

Most foreign scholars of Japanese history and literature use the Japanese order, so historical and literary figures are usually referred to in that order: e.g., Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu

Murasaki Shikibu was a Japanese novelist, poet and lady-in-waiting at the Imperial court during the Heian period. She is best known as the author of The Tale of Genji, written in Japanese between about 1000 and 1012...

and Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

. However, foreign language publications tend to prefer the Western order for Japanese names when discussing contemporary individuals, especially politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

s, businessmen and athletes. This is a holdover from the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

when the Japanese used the Western order when dealing with foreigners or writing in Western languages, believing so to be correct. It should be noted that there is a tendency to respect foreign customs, including the preservation of original pronunciations of foreign names in Japanese. In contrast, when written in kanji characters, the order of Japanese names is never reversed.

Western order for Japanese names is most common in the following:

Film credits
Characters in manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

translations (if the names of the characters have not been completely changed)
Japanese culture like J-pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
Sports media
Scientific publications

The following tend to keep the original Japanese order:

Japanese passports
References to historically significant Japanese personages
Books concerning traditional Japanese activities like Go
Go (board game)
Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

and Waka
Waka (poetry)
Waka or Yamato uta is a genre of classical Japanese verse and one of the major genres of Japanese literature...

The following have mixed order:

Wikipedia (Japanese order for people born before the Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

, i.e. before September 1868; Western order for people born later).

Characters in translated Japanese manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

, anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

, and video games are special cases. They are sometimes given new localized

Language localisation

Language localisationThe spelling "localization", a variant of "localisation", is the preferred spelling in the US and Canada. is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation to account for...

names (as in Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...

for example), or they may keep their original Japanese names in either Japanese or Western name order. They may also have non-Hepburn

Hepburn romanization

The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885...

transliterations of their names, or even different transliterations between different editions or between manga, anime and/or video game versions (as in Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yu-Gi-Oh!
is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...

, for example).

External links

Japanese names section of sci.lang.japan FAQ
Japanorama: Japanese Names 「日本人の名前」目次(Index page of "Names of Japanese")(Internet Archive) Japanese names in Kanji and Hiragana.全国の苗字（名字）１０万種掲載("Publication of 100,000 surnames(names) in the country")静岡大学人文学部城岡研究室(" Shirōka Lab of the Department of Humanities in the Shizuoka University") surnames of Japan, Shizuoka prefecture, Okinawa prefecture and Germany.名字見聞録("Records of names") Japanese names in Kanji and Hiragana.苗字舘("Museum of surnames)" statistics of Japanese surnames.
Japanese Given Names
Popular Japanese baby names 1994 to 2003.
Trends in Japanese Baby Names, Namiko Abe, 2005
WWWJDIC online dictionary with over 400,000 Japanese names.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Structure

Characters

Difficulty of reading names

Regulations

Customs

Speaking to and of others

Nicknames

Names from other ethnic groups in Japan

Imperial names

Historical names

Professional names

Japanese names in English

See also

Further reading

External links