1. When asking for someone’s name, should I use「君の名前はなんですか？」or would あなた be acceptable (instead of キミ)?
2. Would it be possible to write an English name (like Monica (not my name)) in kanji just like normal Japanese names or should I stick to writing my name in カタカナ?
ありがとうございます!
4 comments
For 1.
Generally the question used is お名前は何ですか。in Japanese it’s rare (ish) to use the pronouns for “you”.
For 2.
Foreigners names are written in Katana unless (someone feel free to correct me) you attain citizenship.
I would suggest simply 「名前は？」or 「名前は何ですか」. I’m going to assume you are not Japanese and don’t have a Japanese name, so you would use katakana 🙂 You could get a nickname and use kanji I suppose, but for your real name you’ll use katakana. Good luck in your studies!
As far as the name thing goes, there are names that are/sound like “foreign” names that can be written in kana or kanji. You see that with biracial/haafu kids a lot for example, where the parents want to give their kids names that are recognizable in both parents’ countries/cultures.
Examples include Sarah (沙羅 / 沙良), Hannah (華、巴菜 etc), Naomi (尚美)…. So you could certainly look on a Japanese naming website and see if there’s a common/accepted kanji writing of that name that is used by Japanese people as well. Of course this only works with names that fit within the standard Japanese pronunciations, as opposed to something like “Theodore.”
But imo when a foreigner, who is not of any kind of Japanese heritage, chooses to write their name in a kanji format instead of katakana it does come off as a bit … pretentious? Kind of trying too hard to “be Japanese” I guess.
You should always introduce yourself first and then, ask the other person’s name. 失礼ですがお名前を教えていただけますか, is a good way to ask.