Japanese name
From Wikinfo
A modern Japanese name (日本人名) consists of a family name, or surname, followed by a given name. A middle name is nonexistent.
Common surnames in Japan include Sato (佐藤), Kato (加藤), Suzuki (鈴木) and Takahashi (高橋). Surnames often vary from place to place. Common surnames in Okinawa include Tamagusuku (玉城). Many Japanese family names derive from features of the rural landscape; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means "stony brook", 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 tend to end in -ro ("son"), -ichi ("first" [son]), or -ji ("second" [son]), while female names often end in -ko ("child") or -mi ("beauty").
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Characters
Japanese names are usually written in kanji, although some names use hiragana or even katakana. While most "traditional" names use kunyomi readings, a large number of given names and surnames use onyomi readings as well. Many others use readings which are never found except in names (nanori), such as the female name Nozomi (希).
To further complicate matters, a name written in kanji may have more than one common pronunciation, only one of which is correct for a given individual. The name 靖仁, for instance, can be read as either "Seijin" or "Yasuhito." This makes the collation and romanization of Japanese names a very difficult problem.
A few Japanese names, particularly family names, include a dated, uncommon, and sometimes simply misspelled Chinese character. These characters are often left out of computers' character sets, such as Unicode, which causes severe difficulties in representing many names on the computer. Those who have such a name usually compromise by substituting similar characters. An example of such a name is Saito. While there are over 100 Chinese characters that can be read as "Sai" and over 200 Chinese characters for "Tou", in this case, there are 4 "Sai" that is usually substituted to a single "Sai". The problem is each "Sai" have completely different meaning. "Sai" written with 8 strokes means 'together' or 'parallel'; "Sai" with 11 strokes means 'to purify'; "Sai" with 21 strokes means 'to pay'; "Sai" with 23 strokes means 'salad'. While the latter two are rarely used for a name, even confusing first two would be enough problem on its own. Second one is most likely to be used by someone whose family had served as a Shinto priest, and change to the first one would effectively erase this distinction and their family history. The Japanese government currently has restrictions on the kanji that can be used in christening infants, but many old characters are still intact in adults' names. Because these restrictions have been confusing to say the least, many recent changes has been to increase rather than to decrease the number of Kanji for use in name.
Most Japanese people and agencies have adopted customs to deal with these issues. Address books, for instance, often contain furigana or ruby characters to clarify the pronunciation of the name. Japanese nationals are also required to give a romanized name for their passport. Expressing names in hiragana instead of kanji is acceptable among lower grade students, but usually seen as a disgrace otherwise. Whether to accept students using hiragana for names in formal situations such as exams is sometimes controversial. This can be seen as similar to the problem of misspelling in languages with alphabets.
These complications are also found in Japanese place names.
Name order
When written in Japanese characters, the family name always precedes the given name. 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, Shunji Iwai, Haruki Murakami). Japanese living overseas, such as Yoko Ono and Ichiro Suzuki, 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, Tokugawa Ieyasu). However, English publications tend to prefer the western order when discussing contemporary individuals.
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. Names would also be given in the recognition of a great archivement and contribution. Many surnames originated from Chinese and Korean names. Examples are Kaneshiro (金城) (Chinese) and Chang (Korean).
Until the Meiji restoration, common Japanese peoples (except samurai) had no surnames and instead used the name of their birthplace. So someone born in "Asahi mura(Asahi village)" of "Musashi" would say "Ichiro from the Asahi mura of Musashi". Merchants were named after their brands, and farmers were named after their fathers. After the Meiji restoration, the government ordered all commoners to assume surnames in addition to their given names: many people adopted historical names, while others simply made names up or had a local sage make up a surname. This explains, in part, the large number of surnames in Japan, as well as their great diversity of spellings and pronunciations.
During the period when typical parents had several children, it was a common practice to name sons by numbers suffixed with ro (郎, "son"). The first son would be known as "Ichi (one) ro", the second as "Ji (two) ro" and so on. Girls were often named with ko (子, "child") at the end of the given name (this should not be confused with the male suffix hiko 彦). Both practices have become less common, although many children still have names along these lines.
Within families, younger family members generally refer to older family members by title rather than name, e.g. kaasan "mother" or niichan "big brother". Older family members refer to younger family members by given name. Outside of the family people are generally referred to by family name (Murata-san), by position (e.g. sensei, "teacher"), or by a combination of the two (Murata-sensei). Given names are used when referring to adult friends or to children. Names are almost never spoken or written without some sort of honorific, either a title like sensei or a general honorific like san, kun, or chan. Honorifics are omitted only in intimate relationships.
Some Japanese, particularly celebrities, have a kind of nickname combining their real names. For example, Kimura Takuya, a famous Japanese actor and singer, becomes Kimutaku and Ito Jyunichi, a prominent Japanese hacker, can be Itojyun. Many Japanese celebrities have a name combining kanji and katakana. One such is Beat Takeshi.
Other ethnic names in Japan
Many ethnic minorities living in Japan adopt Japanese names to ease communication and, more importantly, to avoid discrimination. But a few of them still keep their native name. Among them are Chang Woo Han, a founder and chairman of Maruhan Corp., a large chain of pachinko parlors in Japan.
Japanese citizenship, however, requires adopting a Japanese name. In recent decades, the government has allowed individuals to simply adopt katakana versions of their native names when applying for citizenship: Martti Turunen, who became Tsurunen Marutei, is a famous example. Other individuals, such as Lafcadio Hearn, have abandoned their native names entirely in favor of traditional Japanese names.
Ethnic Chinese and Koreans in Japan often 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, for instance, is referred to as エリック シンセキ.
Imperial names
The Japanese emperor and Crown Prince have no surname for historical reasons, only a given name such as Hirohito (裕仁), which is rarely used in Japan (Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince" mainly out of the respect and as a measure of politness).
When children are born into the Imperial family, they are given a standard given name, as well as a special Imperial surname. Akihito, for instance, was born as Tsugo-no-miya Akihito, and was referred to as "Prince Tsugo" during his childhood. The Imperial surname is generally used until the individual becomes heir to the throne or inherits one of the historical prince names (Hitachi, Mikasa, Akishino, etc).
Many members of the extended Imperial family became commoners after World War II, and adopted their Imperial surnames as regular surnames. An example is Asaka Yasuhiko.
See also: Imperial Household of Japan
Further reading and External Links
P.G. O'Neill. Japanese Names 1972 ISBN:0834802252 Weatherhill Inc.
- 10. Japanese names of Alternative sci.lang.japan FAQ
See also: Name, Chinese name, Korean name, Historical Japanese name
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Japanese_name" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
