So we are having a baby and we’ve got a name in mind. Not set in stone, but neither of us can think of a name we like more.
We did all the temples and good luck rituals etc. Now she wants to consult some kind of service or something like that to check if our baby’s name will be lucky. Anybody else ever hear of this? It’s really expensive.
Now if this was a known Shinto or Buddhist thing, I could be like “okay, not my thing, but when in Rome”. I can handle religious differences. This is giving me some astrology fengshui vibes though and I’m not big on the idea of “avoid black cats because Mars is aligned with Uranus” or whatever and I’d rather not change my unborn child’s name based on that.
Is this a common thing, Japanese tradition / religious thing? First I’ve ever heard of it.
13 comments
Yeah sounds like some cult/scam crap. But it’s probably not worth the effort to potentially upset her whilst she’s pregnant. If it’s not gonna hurt the bank then just be done with it for peace.
Random but make sure you keep an eye on family spending. Not saying it’s going to happen to you but I’ve seen and heard of people spending waaaay too much on that fortune crap (here and a bit back home)
Nope. We chose a name. That’s it.
Either your missus doesn’t like the chosen name and wants to change it but doesn’t want an argument…
Or your wife is from some weird rich ass family that has money to burn, and doing superficial superstitious shit like this is normal.
Religious Japan. Shhhh. They don’t even realize it.
Oh you are talking about the four pillars of destiny… my wife and her family names were all chosen by this… I hear it’s fairly complicated – you will have to wait for the baby to be born first before you can name them as what is lucky to them is dependent on their date of birth. Not sure how other Japanese families feel about this but my wife’s family takes it quite seriously
A friend is applying for citizenship and consulted with a fortune teller to choose name kanji, so it is a service that exists, but I’m not sure how common it is.
It’s called kakusu 画数. It’s a thing.
It’s normal. Although you can just check online. There are online calculators to check the “luckiness” of certain kanji combinations. My husband also checked every name we considered for our baby, and by coincidence or fate the name we both agreed on finally was all 大吉 with one being “just” 吉 if I remember correctly.
So the need to consult an actual person and pay a lot of money seems unnecessary but the whole lucky name combo thing is a pretty commonly done thing here, I don’t know how it all works but the number of strokes in each kanji and then the first name and last name on their own and the whole name together has some sort of meaning and luck level. It also gives some sort of little blurb somewhat like astrology like “this person will be ambitious and blah blah blah” “this person will be drawn to travel and be proficient in language blah blah” etc.
Edit: it’s called 画数 and this is a popular FREE website to do it. https://enamae.net/
Yes it’s a thing, and even my very unreligious husband has mentioned it when talking about names, so I assume it’s pretty common. From what I can tell, it’s based on the number of strokes in the kanji, with there being different levels of luck 吉, 大吉, 凶, etc. Just like おみくじ/fortune telling at shrines. (Based on my very limited search when trying to decide on a name for our child with my husband).
But perhaps you can talk your wife into using one of the multiple (free) websites out there that will give the fortune/luck of the name. My comment will probably be auto removed if I post the url, but one for example that will allow you to search multiple kanji for the same reading and also marks which ones are lucky is the first result if you Google 赤ちゃん名前 (the b-name one).
The above site also lists when something is an unusual reading (be prepared of a lot of these, many of the “lucky” names/kanji I found ended up being vetoed because they weren’t common readings), as well as the individual meanings of the kanji, so perhaps it might help with deciding.
I don’t know the details. but there are websites that calculate different luck levels based on the baby’s first name and last name together. I guess in the case of your wife she want a pro opinion. personally I didn’t mind. because it was just for the kanji and it was free online. and I mainly suggested the name and she accepted it and then we chose the kanji together taking into consideration that. and to be fair if your baby growing in Japan they might also care about that, even if you try to tell them not to believe in it.
It is a thing, yes. Usually it has something to do with the number of strokes to write the kanji, as well as earth/wind/fire/water associations. It is combined with the family name.
We did it for free or cheap, I do not remember well, on a website. Honestly, you can get free info easily and there is no need for expensive service. We had the pronunciation set, we just used the online software for the kanji.
It’s normal. After I got married and planned to register an alias, my father in law (a buddhist priest) researched to find the perfect kanji with a lucky number of strokes and all of that jazz.
You can make an appointment with a buddhist priest to talk about baby names and they can come up with a few options based on what is lucky and has good balance
Thanks to everyone who answered. It seems most agree that this is to do with the luck of the kanji stroke combination with last name and that anybody can calculate this or use an online tool. Got a couple of good things to Google and should be able to sit down with at least some idea of what my wife wants now.
It’s all still astrology nonsense to me TBH, but this seems to be one of those “when in Rome”moments after all. Hopefully I can convince her to forego the expensive name “expert”. Thanks again all
Very common. A lot of Japanese superstitions you’ve probably never heard of thus far really come out of the woodwork surrounding pregnancy/childbirth/infancy. It’s an anxious time, historically mortality was high, people want reassurance they’re doing the best they possibly can. But you can look up name luckiness easily online for free, so your wife probably has her own reasons for being willing to pay for an in-person consultation. Recommend figuring out what her motivation is.
Some people do decide whole ass names based on a fortune teller. My coworker had a rare name and she explained her parents went with it after the fortune teller strongly recommended it. FWIW she seemed proud of a rare name and believed her parents went with it because they wanted the best for her. Don’t we all.