Naming

1 comment

1. Yes and no… First off, it depends on which characters are used to write the name. Something like Daisuke, which is a pretty common first name, actually has several ways of writing it (大輔, 大介, 大祐 … etc).

   And parents do often pay attention to the meaning of the characters when choosing a name, and choosing one spelling vs another. But it’s more along the lines of the way that people might know the Hebrew origins of the name “Michael” means “who resembles god.” For the most part, you’d probably only be kind of peripherally conscious of any meaning.

   Side note — I actually didn’t think that Oboro even was a real Japanese last name… but there’s this nifty name origins site that does list it, tho it says there are likely only about 20 people in the whole country with that name. And yes, in that case the kanji is 朧 which has the meaning of hazy/vague/unclear.