 Japanese
names (人名, じんめい, jinmei) - In modern times usually
consist of a family name (surname), followed by a given
name. This naming order is common in countries that have
long been part of the Chinese cultural sphere, including
among the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures. "Middle
names" are not generally used.
Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are
Chinese characters in Japanese pronunciation. The kanji for
a name may have a variety of possible Japanese
pronunciations.
Japanese family names are extremely varied: according to
estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use
today in Japan. This is due to the recent origin of family
names in Japan (1870s), hence there have been few
generations in which family names could become extinct.
Common family names in Japan include Satō (佐藤) (most
common), Suzuki (鈴木) (second most common), Takahashi (高橋)
(third most common), and Katō (加藤) (tenth most common).
Surnames occur with varying frequency in different regions;
for example, the names Chinen (知念), Higa (比嘉), and
Shimabukuro (島袋) are common in Okinawa but not in other
parts of Japan. Many Japanese family names derive from
features of the rural landscape; for example, Ishikawa (石川)
means "stone river," Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the
mountain," and Inoue (井上) means "above the well."
Given names are much more diverse in pronunciation and
character usage. Male names often end in -rō (郎 "son", but
also 朗 "clear, bright") or -ta (太 "great, thick"), or
contain ichi (一 "first [son]"), kazu (also written with 一
"first [son]", along with several other possible
characters), ji (二 "second [son]" or 次 "next"), or dai (大
"great, large") while female names often end in -ko (子
"child") or -mi (美 "beauty"). (Since 1980, the popularity of
female names ending in -ko has dramatically fallen for new
baby names and some women drop the -ko upon adulthood.)
Other popular endings for female names include -ka (香
"scent, perfume" or 花 "flower") and -na (奈, or 菜, meaning
greens).
All Japanese people have one surname and one given name with
no middle name, except for the Japanese imperial family,
whose members bear no surname. The surname is called myōji
(苗字 or 名字), uji (氏) or sei (姓), and the given name is called
the "name" (名前 namae) or "lower name" (下の名前 shita no namae).
The family name precedes the given 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.
There are a few names that can be used as either surnames or
given names (for example Kaneko 金子, or Masuko 益子). 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, when romanized, some
common surnames and given names may coincide: e.g., Shoji
(昌司, Shoji) (given name) and Shoji (東海林, Shoji?) (surname).
Japanese names are usually written in kanji (Chinese
characters), although some names use hiragana or even
katakana, or a mixture of kanji and kana. 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), such as
the female name Nozomi (希). 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 (勅使河原) and (久夛良木) as in Ken Kutaragi, Kadenokoji(勘解由小路),
but these are extremely rare.
As mentioned above, female given names often end in the
syllable ko, written with the kanji meaning "child" (子).
This 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 子
(most often, if a male name ends in ko, it ends in hiko,
using the kanji 彦). 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), 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.
Names, like other Japanese words, cannot begin with the
syllable n (ん, ン). 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
(provided the "n" sound is paired with a vowel); for
example, the female name Naoko (尚子) or the male Naoya (直哉).
One large category of family names can be categorized as "-tō"
names. The kanji 藤, meaning wisteria, has the on'yomi tō
(or, with rendaku, dō). Many Japanese people have surnames
that include this kanji as the second character. This is
because the Fujiwara clan (藤原家) gave their samurai surnames
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, Endō, Gotō,
Jitō, Katō, Kitō, Kudō, Kondō, Saitō, Satō, Shindō, Sudō,
Naitō, Bitō, and Mutō. As already noted, some of the most
common family names are in this list.
Information source: “Japanese name.” wikipedia.org. Article
date: 12 Feb. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 16 Feb. 2008
<Japanese name>. |
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