Hello everyone,
I would like to understand how people in Japan show their relation with other people in the way they call each other. I’ve watched a movie where a character called a girl “Hinami Aoi” whereas the subtitle is “Aoi Hinami”. What’s the given name and the family name of the girl?
Assuming her given name is Hinami, can I call her “Aoi-san” if I’m a total stranger to her? Then if I was her classmate, can I call her “Hinami-san”? Then if I hang out a lot with her, not lovers or sth like that, can I just call her “Aoi”? Then finally, I would just call her by her first name “Hinami” If we are lovers.
Is that whole name-addressing process correct?
Thanks for reading this post.
3 comments
The subtitles are formatted to what us westerners use as naming conventions. The characters family name would be Hinami, the given name “Aoi.”
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Lovers is a tougher situation… Aoi without a suffix is possible, but it depends on the situation. If they were alone, probably, but if they were with friends or in a classroom setting you wouldn’t be so informal most likely.
Hinami is her family name, Aoi is her given name.
Casual acquaintances, classmates who aren’t close to her etc. would call her Hinami-san. Junior grades would also use that even if they were close.
Her close friends might call her Aoi-san or Aoi-chan, but would still refer to her as Hinami-san when referring to her to outgroup people.
Hinami (without a suffix) is also possible for close friends, or possibly if she were a member of a sports team or club, by her seniors or teammates.