HomeLearn JapaneseAs a foreigner, if you have a name that is a noun that would otherwise have a native translation in Japanese, would it be appropriate to use the kanji/hiragana pronunciation as well, or is it better to stick with katakana
As a foreigner, if you have a name that is a noun that would otherwise have a native translation in Japanese, would it be appropriate to use the kanji/hiragana pronunciation as well, or is it better to stick with katakana
i.e. names like Rain, Autumn, Raven, Briar or my name, Saturn! I’ve only just started learning Japanese and I’ve been curious about this because I know there’s many Japanese names that pull from other nouns in the same way
Generally you would stick with the katakana version to match your passport name otherwise it might create a lot of issues with immigration if your Japanese name is wildly different from it.
That said, you can tell the people around you to call you a nickname. Unfortunately though, Saturn doesn’t translate well into Japanese as it would be written as 土星 (dosei) literally meaning Earth Star and it would be seen as really strange to be called that in Japan. (Just as weird as going around America asking people to call you Earth Star).
Autumn and Rain could work though since the Japanese equivalents are commonly used names in Japan (Aki and Ame). Though you may have to be careful with that as well since you may accidentally adopt a boy’s name as a girl and vice versa (Aki is a neutral name but Ame is feminine.)
In the end, the safest way is to just keep your English name in Katakana as is or abbreviate it if it’s hard to pronounce for Japanese people.
No matter the situation, use Katakana. It’s intended for foreign names and loan words, so it should be used as such. If someone gets confused by the pronunciation, or the spelling, just let them know it’s a name
Check the japanese page of Hikaru Nakamura, an american chess grandmaster who was born in Japan. You could easily use the kanjis for his name (中村 光) but no.
Keep in mind that in Japanese the planet (土星, dosei) and Roman deity (サートゥルヌス, Sāturnus) have different names, so you’d have to pick between the astronomy or mythology side of Saturn if you decide to go for it.
No. Nor would you expect a Japanese person to translate their name into English like that. You’d use the closest pronunciation to the name as possible.
桃 – Momo, not peach.
Saturn – サターン, not 土星.
Saturn, lol. Still better than Uranus;)
If your name is Rain and you go to a Spanish-speaking country, do you introduce yourself as Lluvia?
It doesn‘t really make sense because the pronounciation of the name would change completely. But to answer your question in general, you can register a kanji name as an official legal alias. You can use that alias on your drivers license, health insurance card, my number card and pretty much everything except your residence card, because that one always has to use the same name as your passport.
Great question, and a fun one too! Names and name-choosing is in my opinion particularly creative in Japan/Japanese. I recently became a ftm and had a lot of fun choosing, creating, rather, a name for my daughter. 🙂
I think as long as you are respectful or more specifically sensitive/contentious as to how and what name you choose, you can go with any of the above ways you mentioned.
So far it sounds like you’re on the right track. Lmk if you have more questions!
I’d use katakana unless you have a Japanese name. How parents name their children have traditionally been about an aspiration for their child, the season/time period they were born in, naming conventions from that time period, celebrities/characters (game/manga) and the final category: kirakira names.
Names are ultimately about the impression they give other people and the kanji chosen by the parents are generally meaningful.
I’ll use the name めぐみ as the first example. It can be written a various number of ways: 恵、愛、芽実、恵美、愛実、愛美 (this is not an exhaustive list but I wanted to list a few examples for now). Parents will select characters based on one of the above reasons I mentioned.
恵: blessed
愛: to be loved by others
芽実: to thrive and live a fulfilling life (sometimes chosen for strength as the character for fang 牙 is used)
美: beauty
As another example: あきこ which can be written 明子、秋子、昭子 (again not an exhaustive list). The 子 on the end is an older naming convention and it’s common for girls born in the Showa period and earlier to have this in their name e.g. きょうこ、ふさこ、よしこ.
明子: a bright and lively child
秋子: autumn child
昭子: a child born in the Showa period
For men, names ending in 太 (た) and 郎 (ろう) were common. E.g. しょうた、こうた、いちろう (一郎)、じろう (二郎)、さぶろう (三郎), etc
Some parents do name their children so that it works in English speaking countries as well e.g. じゅり、さら、れおん、れな, etc
I’m going to skip the famous people and characters section because that’s hopefully fairly obvious.
The last category is a nightmare and it’s not something I’m directly familiar with the scale of because I’ve been away from Japan for a long time and it’s not something that was done in my time there. These are names where people preselect the reading and add kanji to what they want to express. In my view, it’s the Japanese equivalent of the odd celebrity children names, or people who name their kids ABCDE.
So to come back to the initial question. Translating names is not really something that’s done because the meaning of the characters does become exactly what the name is. I think it dilutes the meaning of your name by doing so. Parents (or you yourself) select names because of the sound and meaning so I think it is lost in translating.
It’s not like you’d call yourself パン屋 雨 if your name is Rain Baker. You’d probably prefer レイン・ベーカー.
Anyway, that was my early morning ramble. I’m not quite awake enough for this so I do apologise if I’ve got any mistakes anywhere.
Stick with katakana version of your name. It might be hard to pronounce your own name though…
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Generally you would stick with the katakana version to match your passport name otherwise it might create a lot of issues with immigration if your Japanese name is wildly different from it.
That said, you can tell the people around you to call you a nickname. Unfortunately though, Saturn doesn’t translate well into Japanese as it would be written as 土星 (dosei) literally meaning Earth Star and it would be seen as really strange to be called that in Japan. (Just as weird as going around America asking people to call you Earth Star).
Autumn and Rain could work though since the Japanese equivalents are commonly used names in Japan (Aki and Ame). Though you may have to be careful with that as well since you may accidentally adopt a boy’s name as a girl and vice versa (Aki is a neutral name but Ame is feminine.)
In the end, the safest way is to just keep your English name in Katakana as is or abbreviate it if it’s hard to pronounce for Japanese people.
No matter the situation, use Katakana. It’s intended for foreign names and loan words, so it should be used as such. If someone gets confused by the pronunciation, or the spelling, just let them know it’s a name
Check the japanese page of Hikaru Nakamura, an american chess grandmaster who was born in Japan. You could easily use the kanjis for his name (中村 光) but no.
[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ヒカル・ナカムラ](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ヒカル・ナカムラ)
Same goes for your question.
Keep in mind that in Japanese the planet (土星, dosei) and Roman deity (サートゥルヌス, Sāturnus) have different names, so you’d have to pick between the astronomy or mythology side of Saturn if you decide to go for it.
No. Nor would you expect a Japanese person to translate their name into English like that. You’d use the closest pronunciation to the name as possible.
桃 – Momo, not peach.
Saturn – サターン, not 土星.
Saturn, lol. Still better than Uranus;)
If your name is Rain and you go to a Spanish-speaking country, do you introduce yourself as Lluvia?
It doesn‘t really make sense because the pronounciation of the name would change completely. But to answer your question in general, you can register a kanji name as an official legal alias. You can use that alias on your drivers license, health insurance card, my number card and pretty much everything except your residence card, because that one always has to use the same name as your passport.
Great question, and a fun one too! Names and name-choosing is in my opinion particularly creative in Japan/Japanese. I recently became a ftm and had a lot of fun choosing, creating, rather, a name for my daughter. 🙂
I think as long as you are respectful or more specifically sensitive/contentious as to how and what name you choose, you can go with any of the above ways you mentioned.
So far it sounds like you’re on the right track. Lmk if you have more questions!
I’d use katakana unless you have a Japanese name. How parents name their children have traditionally been about an aspiration for their child, the season/time period they were born in, naming conventions from that time period, celebrities/characters (game/manga) and the final category: kirakira names.
Names are ultimately about the impression they give other people and the kanji chosen by the parents are generally meaningful.
I’ll use the name めぐみ as the first example. It can be written a various number of ways: 恵、愛、芽実、恵美、愛実、愛美 (this is not an exhaustive list but I wanted to list a few examples for now). Parents will select characters based on one of the above reasons I mentioned.
恵: blessed
愛: to be loved by others
芽実: to thrive and live a fulfilling life (sometimes chosen for strength as the character for fang 牙 is used)
美: beauty
As another example: あきこ which can be written 明子、秋子、昭子 (again not an exhaustive list). The 子 on the end is an older naming convention and it’s common for girls born in the Showa period and earlier to have this in their name e.g. きょうこ、ふさこ、よしこ.
明子: a bright and lively child
秋子: autumn child
昭子: a child born in the Showa period
For men, names ending in 太 (た) and 郎 (ろう) were common. E.g. しょうた、こうた、いちろう (一郎)、じろう (二郎)、さぶろう (三郎), etc
Some parents do name their children so that it works in English speaking countries as well e.g. じゅり、さら、れおん、れな, etc
I’m going to skip the famous people and characters section because that’s hopefully fairly obvious.
The last category is a nightmare and it’s not something I’m directly familiar with the scale of because I’ve been away from Japan for a long time and it’s not something that was done in my time there. These are names where people preselect the reading and add kanji to what they want to express. In my view, it’s the Japanese equivalent of the odd celebrity children names, or people who name their kids ABCDE.
So to come back to the initial question. Translating names is not really something that’s done because the meaning of the characters does become exactly what the name is. I think it dilutes the meaning of your name by doing so. Parents (or you yourself) select names because of the sound and meaning so I think it is lost in translating.
It’s not like you’d call yourself パン屋 雨 if your name is Rain Baker. You’d probably prefer レイン・ベーカー.
Anyway, that was my early morning ramble. I’m not quite awake enough for this so I do apologise if I’ve got any mistakes anywhere.
Stick with katakana version of your name.
It might be hard to pronounce your own name though…