One other unexpected thing is that the total number of strokes in the name matters to some people.
Pronounced like Chami? Kanji characters can be read many different ways, especially when paired with other kanji. So I’d recommend doing a little kanji research before grabbing random characters and sticking them together.
I think normally you’d come up with what you want the name to sound like first, then decide which kanji to use to represent that. A website like [this](https://namedic.jp/characters/) shows the reasonable readings for a given name. There is also some superstitious element in choosing kanji – given+surname stroke count of the kanji can mean different levels of luck and most people take that into account, I’m told. 茶美 for a woman that sells tea seems pretty on the nose though – apparently it is a real name at least, but it’s not one I’ve heard before and I’d guess it’s pretty rare.
4 comments
Title: Yes.
Body: [Yes.](https://jisho.org/search/%E8%8C%B6%E7%BE%8E%20%23names)
Here’s an example. There are name books.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/%E8%A5%BF%E6%9D%B1%E7%A4%BE%E7%B7%A8%E9%9B%86%E9%83%A8-ebook/dp/B00QRJ5C10
One other unexpected thing is that the total number of strokes in the name matters to some people.
Pronounced like Chami? Kanji characters can be read many different ways, especially when paired with other kanji. So I’d recommend doing a little kanji research before grabbing random characters and sticking them together.
I think normally you’d come up with what you want the name to sound like first, then decide which kanji to use to represent that. A website like [this](https://namedic.jp/characters/) shows the reasonable readings for a given name. There is also some superstitious element in choosing kanji – given+surname stroke count of the kanji can mean different levels of luck and most people take that into account, I’m told. 茶美 for a woman that sells tea seems pretty on the nose though – apparently it is a real name at least, but it’s not one I’ve heard before and I’d guess it’s pretty rare.