So… I don’t watch a lot of anime. Very little, in fact. It’s not really my thing. However, from the few I have watched (namely SAO and Steins;Gate) I noticed an interesting phenomenon: combining first and surnames into one nickname. Examples include Kirito (Kirigaya Kazuto), Okarin (Rintarou Okabe), Mayushii (Shiina Mayuri) and Daru (Hashida Itaru).
My human brain activated pattern detector mode and I was interested. Now I just really want to know whether this is a common/popular thing to do with nicknames in Japan or if it’s more like an anime exclusive things. I won’t ever end up using this because I don’t live in Japan, speak Japanese, or have any Japanese friends, and the lovely old Japanese lady I take care of sometimes doesn’t seem like the nickname type. I just like to know the answers to cultural things like this so I don’t go around mistakenly believing something that is only true in pop culture.
by SolaHaze