Japan is a unique country. What is behind these words? The special nature, culture, religion, philosophy, art, lifestyle, fashion, cuisine, the harmonious coexistence of high technology and ancient traditions, as well as the Japanese language itself, are just as difficult to learn as they are fascinating. One of the most important parts of the language is first and last names. They always carry a piece of history, and the Japanese are doubly curious.
Decrypt Name
Why do we foreigners need to know all this? Firstly, because it is informative and interesting, because Japanese culture has penetrated into many areas of our modern life. It is very exciting to decipher the names of famous people: for example, the Miyazaki animator is “temple, palace” + “cape”, and the writer Murakami is “village” + “top”. Secondly, all this has long and firmly become part of the youth subculture.
Fans of comics (manga) and animation (anime) simply love to take various Japanese names and surnames as pseudonyms. Samp and other online games also actively use such aliases for player characters. And no wonder: such a nickname sounds beautiful, exotic and memorable.
These mysterious Japanese first and last names
The land of the rising sun will always find how to surprise an ignorant foreigner. It is noteworthy that during the recording or official presentation of a person, first comes his last name, and then the name, for example: Sato Ayko, Tanaka Yukio. For the Russian ear, this sounds unusual, and therefore it can be quite difficult for us to distinguish Japanese names from each other. The Japanese themselves, in order to avoid confusion when communicating with foreigners, often write down their surname in capital letters. And it really makes the task easier. Fortunately, it is customary for the Japanese to have only one name and one surname. And such a form as a patronym (patronymic), this people does not have at all.
Another unusual feature of Japanese communication: the active use of consoles. Moreover, these prefixes are most often joined to the surname. European psychologists say that there is nothing more pleasant for a person than the sound of his name - but the Japanese, apparently, think differently. Therefore, names are used only in situations of very close and personal communication.
What prefixes are available in Japanese?
- (last name) + dignity - universal polite treatment;
- (surname) + herself - appeal to members of the government, directors of companies, clergy; also used in stable combinations;
- (last name) + sensei - an appeal to martial arts masters, doctors, as well as professionals in any field;
- (surname) + kun - appeal to adolescents and youths, as well as the elder to the younger or higher to the lower (for example, the boss to the subordinate);
- (name) + chan (or chan) - appeal to children and among children under 10 years old; appeal of parents to their offspring of any age; in an informal setting - to lovers and close friends.
How often are Japanese first and last names used? This is surprising, but even family members rarely call each other by name. Instead, special words are used, meaning “mother”, “dad”, “daughter”, “son”, “older sister”, “younger sister”, “older brother”, “younger brother”, etc. To these words prefixes "chan (chan)" are also added.
Female names
Girls in Japan are most often called by names that mean something abstract, but at the same time beautiful, pleasant and feminine: “flower”, “crane”, “bamboo”, “water lily”, “chrysanthemum”, “moon” and the like like that. Simplicity and harmony - this is what distinguishes Japanese names.
Female names in many cases contain syllables (hieroglyphs) “mi” - beauty (for example: Harumi, Ayumi, Kazumi, Mie, Fumiko, Miyuki) or “ko” - a child (for example: Mayko, Naoko, Haruko, Yumiko, Yoshiko, Hanako, Takako, Asako).
It is interesting that some girls in modern Japan consider the ending “ko” unfashionable and omit it. So, for example, the name "Yumiko" turns into a daily used "Yumi." And friends to this girl turn "Yumi-chan."
All of the above are quite common female Japanese names in our time. And the girls' surnames are also distinguished by striking poetry, especially if you translate an exotic combination of sounds into Russian. Most often, they convey the image of a typical Japanese village landscape. For example: Yamamoto - “the foundation of the mountain”, Watanabe - “cross the surroundings”, Iwasaki - “rocky cape”, Kobayashi - “small forest”.
A whole poetic world is discovered by Japanese names and surnames. Women's ones are especially similar to hoku-style works, surprising with beautiful sound and harmonious meaning.
Male names
The names of men are the most difficult to read and translate. Some of them are formed from nouns. For example: Moku ("the carpenter"), Akio ("handsome"), Ketsu ("victory), Makoto (" truth). Others are derived from adjectives or verbs, for example: Satoshi (“smart”), Mamoru (“protect”), Takashi (“tall”), Tsutomu (“try”).
Very often, Japanese masculine names and surnames include hieroglyphics indicating gender: “man”, “husband”, “hero”, “assistant”, “tree”, etc.
Often the use of ordinal numbers. This tradition originated in the Middle Ages, when families had many children. For example, the name Ichiro means “first son, ” Jiro means “second son, ” Saburo means “third son, ” and so on up to Juro, which means “tenth son.”
Japanese boy names and surnames can be created simply on the basis of the characters available in the language. In the days of the imperial dynasties, noble people attached great importance to how to call themselves and their children, but in modern Japan, preference is given simply to what you liked in sound and meaning. At the same time, it is not necessary for children from the same family to bear names with a common character, as was traditionally practiced in the imperial dynasties of the past.
All Japanese masculine names and surnames are united by two signs: semantic echoes of the Middle Ages and difficulty in reading, especially for a foreigner.
Common Japanese surnames
Surnames are distinguished by a large number and variety: according to linguists, there are more than 100, 000 names in the Japanese language. For comparison: there are 300-400 thousand Russian surnames.
Currently, the most common Japanese surnames are: Sato, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, Yamamoto, Watanabe, Saito, Kudo, Sasaki, Kato, Kobayashi, Murakami, Ito, Nakamura, Oonishi, Yamaguchi, Kuroki, Higa.
Curious fact: Japanese names have different popularity, depending on the area. For example, in Okinawa (the southernmost prefecture of the country), the surnames Chinen, Higa and Shimabukuro are very common, while in the rest of Japan they are very few. Experts attribute this to differences in dialects and culture. Due to these differences, the Japanese can only say where they come from by the name of their interlocutor alone.
Such different names and surnames
In European culture, certain traditional names are characteristic, from which parents choose the most suitable for their baby. Fashion trends often change, and one or the other becomes popular, but rarely does anyone specially come up with a unique name. In Japanese culture, things are different: there are much more single or rare names. Therefore, there is no traditional list. Japanese names (and surnames too) are often derived from some beautiful words or phrases.
Poetry named
The pronounced poetic meaning is distinguished, first of all, by female names. For instance:
- Yuri - "Water Lily."
- Hotaru - “Firefly”.
- Izumi - The Fountain.
- Namiko - "Child of the waves."
- Aika - “Love Song”.
- Natsumi - "Summer Beauty."
- Chiyo - "Eternity."
- Nozomi - "Hope."
- Ima - "Gift."
- Rico - “The Jasmine Child”.
- Kiku - "Chrysanthemum."
However, among the male names you can find beautiful meanings:
- Keitaro - "Blessed."
- Toshiro - "Talented."
- Yuki - "Snow";.
- Yuzuki - The Crescent Moon.
- Takehiko - The Bamboo Prince.
- Rydon - "God of Thunder."
- Tohru - “Sea”.
Surname poetry
There are not only beautiful Japanese names. And surnames can be very poetic. For instance:
- Arai - The Wild Well.
- Aoki - "Young (green) tree."
- Yoshikawa - "Happy River".
- Ito - "Wisteria".
- Kikuchi - "Pond with Chrysanthemums."
- Komatsu - "Little Pine".
- Matsuura - “Pine Bay”.
- Nagai - The Eternal Well.
- Ozawa - The Little Swamp.
- Oohashi - The Big Bridge.
- Shimizu - "Pure Water."
- Chiba - “A Thousand Leaves.”
- Furukawa - “The Old River”.
- Yano - "Arrow on the Plain."
Make you smile
Sometimes there are funny Japanese names and surnames, or rather, funny sounds for the Russian ear.
Among these, one can note male names: Banka, Tikhaya (emphasis on "a), Usyo, Dzioban, Sosi (emphasis on" o "). Among women’s, it’s funny for a Russian-speaking person to hear: Hey, Wasp, Ori, Cho, Ruka, Rana, Jura. But such ridiculous examples are extremely rare, given the rich variety of Japanese names.
As for the surnames, here you can rather find a strange and hard-to-pronounce combination of sounds than a funny one. However, this is easily offset by numerous amusing parodies of Japanese names and surnames. Of course, they were all invented by Russian-speaking jokers, but there are still some phonetic similarities with the originals. For example, such a parody: Japanese racer Toyama Tokanawa; or Japanese singer Tohripo Tovizgo. Behind all these “names”, a phrase in Russian is easily guessed.
