Japanese Names – How are they chosen?

Have you ever stopped to think about Japanese names and their anthroponymy? Have you ever wondered why names differ so much compared to other countries? It is uncommon to find someone named Maria or João in Japan, but it is easy to find Tanaka, Sato, Sasaki, and Yamada… But… what about it? Do you know where they get these names from and what their meanings are?

A Japanese name called jinmei [人名] is composed, firstly, of the family surname followed by the personal name or first name. The first name is usually used among acquaintances with some intimacy or on other occasions.

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How do Japanese names work?

• Japanese names are usually written with ideograms known as Kanji;
• Names can have various pronunciations and even different writings, since a single Kanji can have multiple pronunciations. It is normal to create nicknames based on the kanji of the name;
• Names can also have multiple meanings, as a Kanji can mean various things, in addition to the meaning of the pronunciation;
• It is also common for people to write their names in Hiragana depending on the informality or occasion;
• Male names often end in: Ro, To, and Ta while female names end in: Ko, Na, and Mi;
• It is uncommon for Japanese people to have a middle name or surname;
• The suffixes or honorific titles in names can be very useful and should not be overlooked, to differentiate a name word, since Japanese names often resemble common things;

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Meanings of Japanese names

Have you ever thought about the meaning of Japanese names? Sometimes people have names of fruits, colors, numbers, but not always does their name mean that. Here are some examples below:

• Ichigo – Strawberry
• Sakura – Cherry Blossoms
• Tsukushi – Weed, Horsetail
• Nana – Seven
• Juuichi – Eleven
• Hisoka – Secret, Reserved
• Kuro – Black

Can you imagine calling someone strawberry or black? Japanese names usually do not have a plethora of syllables and variations like Portuguese, so many words resemble others, but it doesn’t mean that a child is named strawberry. Ichigo can also mean “the first” [一護] and not “strawberry” [いちご].

That is why Japanese people use suffixes like [-san, -kun], to avoid confusing someone’s name with a fruit or other words.

In writing, this confusion does not usually happen, since most of the time Japanese names are written with 2 or more ideograms:

• Sawako 爽子 – (子 KO – Child.) (爽 Sawa – Happy, refreshing, sweet.)
• Naomi 直美 – (美 – Mi – Beauty.) (直 Nao – Frankness, Honesty.)

Not to mention that common Japanese names can be written with other Kanjis and have other meanings, but only one of them is correct. For example, Haruma can be written as:

• 春馬 – (春 – Haru = Spring) (馬 – Uma = Horse)
• 春間 – (can be read as Haru-Kan.) (春 – Haru = Spring.) (間 – Ma = Time, space)
• 晝間 (can be read as Hiruma)

This varies in Japanese; they can choose one kanji and use another not very common pronunciation, as in the cases above. Another example is “Haruka” which can be written = 晴香 / 春香/ 遥 / 遥香（香 – aroma; smell; incense.) (春= Spring) (晴 – Good weather; cloudy.) (遥 – Distance; to walk.)

Also, the name Hajime can be written with the kanjis [始, 治, 初] and many other examples.

The difficult choice of ideograms

It is quite complex to understand the writing of names; one example of this is the surname Saitō. Although there are more than 100 characters that can be read as sai and more than 200 that can be read as tō, only four of these sai can be used for a surname.

The problem is that each of these characters has a different meaning: the sai with eight strokes (斉) means “together” or “parallel,” the sai with 11 strokes (斎) means “purify.” As mentioned, a name written in kanji can have more than one pronunciation, but only one of them is correct for a particular individual.

For example:

• 陽翔 – Can be read as: Haruto, Hinato, Yōshō..;
• 春間 – Can be read as Haruka Haruma
• 斉 Which is said Hitoshi can be used to write Sato; Saikichi and others

Your head must be confused, very confused, and that is why Japanese people usually write their names in hiragana; even in documents, there is a space for the name written in hiragana so we know the correct way to pronounce the name. And it is also for this reason that we should use suffixes to avoid getting lost.

When someone introduces themselves and talks about the meaning of their name, they will write their name in kanji, say the meaning, and also explain about each kanji used and its meaning. Although it is difficult to understand at first, especially in the summarized way I explain, I find it beautiful and interesting that your name can have multiple meanings, pronunciations, writings; you can have a lot of fun with that…

The coolest thing is knowing that the name is made up of words that mean common things; although it may seem strange to us, being called by a fruit or object is totally cool and normal in Japan.

If I were to choose a Japanese name, I would like to have: Kyouma [凶真] which means:

• 真 – True, Genuine
• 凶 – Calamity, disaster, villain

Of course, this is a joke; choosing a name takes time, with many options, I would spend years deciding which is the best. And you? What name would you choose?

The video below can help you find more Japanese names and their meanings: