[AI] I have a request . . . .

[Andres Hetzel]

>Ummm, I'm coming up with something of a blank, and I need some 
>help from all of you.  I'm trying (and so far failing) to write 
>a fanfic, and I need several Japanese names.  :)  Preferably ones 
>that aren't quite so well-known, if you understand . . . .

>I'm so sorry to have to ask, but I could *really* use your help.
>Arigato!

I happen to have just what you need. You'll love this.  ^_^


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Names for Japanese

Here is a guide to read and understand Japanese names. You can also
generate realistic Japanese names for your Japanese characters by 
reading the page.

You can also find Non-Western Name Conventions , a more academic
description about naming.


Japanese Language

Some say the Japanese language is the language of demons, the most
difficult one in the world.

A Japanese word consist of some syllables. There are 109 syllables, 
though "wi" and "we" are seldom used. The word "Shinkansen" can be 
be separated as "Shi-n-ka-n-se-n", thus a six-syllable word. There 
are only five vowels and fourteen consonants, very fewer than 
English.

Japanese grammar is some complex. Because it is impossible explain 
Japanese grammar fully in this page, I'll show some of most features.
First, Japanese has no apparent subject. In many case subject is
omissioned.
Second, Japanese has no distinction of the singular and the plural.
Third, a Japanese sentence is determined at its end. The sentence 
"Kimi wa machigatte iru" means "You are wrong," and "Kimi wa 
machigatte inai" means "You are not wrong."
In short, expressions in Japanese are noncomittal and ambiguous, 
so the language Japanese is not suitable for logical discussion. 
Instead, it is full of words which express subtle emotion.

The language Japanese bases on the special character set called 
kanji . Kanji is the ideographic characters that originated in 
ancient China, and has been used in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. 
The word "kan-ji" means "Chinese (kan) character(ji)." There are 
more than 6,000 different kanji, but two thirds of them are rarely 
used. Each of them have its meaning and pronunciation. There are 
also the other two letter sets, hiragana and katakana , which is 
unique to Japanese. Different from kanji, it is phonogram. A 
hiragana/katakana represents a syllable.

Syllables

Japanese language has 101 syllables.

Type I
        a   i   u   e   o
        ka  ki  ku  ke  ko
        sa  shi su  se  so
        ta  chi tsu te  to
        na  ni  nu  ne  no
        ha  hi  fu  he  ho
        ma  mi  mu  me  mo
        ya      yu      yo
        ra  ri  ru  re  ro
        wa

Type II
        ga  gi  gu  ge  go
        za  ji  zu  ze  zo
        da          de  do
        ba  bi  bu  be  bo

Type III
        pa  pi  pu  pe  po

Type IV
        kya     kyu     kyo
        sha     shu     sho
        cha     chu     cho
        nya     nyu     nyo
        hya     hyu     hyo
        mya     myu     myo
        rya     ryu     ryo
        gya     gyu     gyo
        ja      ju      jo
        bya     byu     byo
        pya     pyu     pyo

Type V
        n

All Japanese words, including Japanese names, consists of the 
syllables aboce.


Order of Family Name / Given Name

In most eastern countries such as China and Korea, the family 
name written first and the personal name is written last when 
someone writes his name. This is true in Japanese, too. In Japanese, 
myoji , the family name comes first, and namae , the personal name 
comes last. For example, Tokugawa Ieyasu is Ieyasu of the house 
Tokugawa .

However, many Japanese prefer to write in the western style, the 
personal name first and the family name last, when they write in 
English today. So you would see many Japanese names such as Akira 
Kurosawa , Akira of the Kurosawas .

This often make you confuse. The names of historical figures are 
almost written in family-personal order, and names of modern people 
are written in personal-family order. But not always.
Some people capitalize their family name, such as Gen-ichi NISHIO ,
Gen-ichi of the Nishios .

A Japanese has no middle name today. Anyone have only a personal 
name and a family name.
Historical figures before 19th century often had many middle names,
representing their occupation etc.

The emperor has no family name. He has only his personal name, 
such as Hirohito , Akihito and so on. Members of the royal family 
also don't have their family names. When a woman married with a 
member of the royal family, she lose her personal name.


Names for Historical Figures

Modern Japanese names are very different from those of 200 years 
ago. So I'll explain each of the two.

Until 19th century, only the noble and bushi (samurai) had family 
names. All other people, including farmers, merchants, craftmen, 
had only personal names. When the Edo Shogunate fell in 1853, the 
new government of Meiji decided that all people must have family 
names . Until then, 80% of the Japanese people had no family names.
Most of women didn't have their family names, eigher. Even a 
daughter of bushi , she had only her personal name. This was 
because a woman couldn't be a successor of her house.

Historical Family Names

Famous Bushi Houses

There are famous bushi houses in history.

Genji
     One of the two major houses in Heian era, and the house of 
     Kamakura shogunate. It discontinued in 13th century. Famous 
     members: Minamoto-no-Yoritomo , Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune .

Heike
     One of the two major houses in Heian era. They once grasped 
     the very power of the government, they were destroyed by Genji 
     in 1185. Famous members: Taira-no-Masakado , Taira-no-Kiyomori.

Hojo
     Regent house of Kamakura shogunate. When Minamoto-no-Sanetomo 
     in 1219, the third shogun was assasinated, he left no apparent
     successors. The emperor Gotoba raised his army to bring down 
     the shogunate and get back the sovereignty. In this crisis, 
     Hojo Masako , the mother of Sanetomo , became the regent of 
     the shogun , and defeat the imperial army in 1211 (the war of 
     Joyku). After her, members of the house ruled Japan as the 
     regents until 1329. Famous members: Hojo Masako , Hojo Tokimune

Askikaga
     The house of Muromachi shogunate. After the war with Mongol, 
     Kamakura shogunate declined. The emperor Godaigo raised an army 
     and destroy the shogunate. But after the victory, Ashikaga 
     Takauji , the leader of the army, rebeled against the emperor. 
     He drove away the emperor from Kyoto, and made another emperor. 
     Then he became the new shogun , opening the Muromachi shogunate. 
     The house Ashikaga ruled Japan for about 200 years. Famous 
     members: Askihaga Takauji , Ashikaga Yoshimitsu .

Tokugawa
     The house of Edo shogunage , founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu . They 
     ruled Japan for 230 years. Famouse members: Tokugawa Ieyasu , 
     Tokugawa Yoshimune .

Matsudaira
     The original house of Tokugawa Ieyasu . He was originally 
     called Matsudaira Ieyasu , and then rename his family name 
     and founded the new house. The hose Matsudaira was a powerful 
     relative of shogun in the Edo era. The house Matsudaira still 
     exists today, though no longer as a samurai house.

Hosokoawa
     A house with a long tradition. Founded as a noble house about 
     500 years ago originally, the house Hosokawa became a daimyo 
     as a bushi family later. The house Hosokoawa still exists 
     today. Its most famous member is the ex-prime-minister.

Shimazu
     The damiyo house of Satsuma , the south edge territory of 
     Japanese islands. It was one of the most powerful daimyo 
     when the Civil War era. When the western army lose the 
     battle of Sekigahara , the house Shimazu became a daimyo 
     under the Edo shogunate. 270 years after the battle, Shimazu 
     rebelled against the shogunate, and finally destroyed it in 
     1867. Famous member: Shimazu Nariakira , Shimazu Hisamitsu

Other Family Names for Bushi

There is a collection of family names that actually existed 
in feudal Japan.

Kaga, Date, Maeda, Kuki, Asai, Shibata, Kato, Takeda, Saito, 
Honda, Ii, Tanuma, Ooka, Miyamoto, Suwa, Hattori, Chosokabe, 
Ukita, Mori, Ishida, Fukushima, Oda, Kuroda, Hachisuka, Okubo, 
Watanabe, Takigawa, Murakami

Famous Noble Family Names

Konoe, Takashi, Kujo, Ichijo, and Gojo were the five major noble 
houses called Gosetsuke . Hirohata, Daigo, Kuga, Oimikado, Saionji, 
Sanjo, Imaidegawa, Tokudaiji, and Kaoin were lanked next. There 
were also other noble houses such as Masachika, Shigenoi, 
Anenokoji, Shimizudani, Kawashi, Nakayama, Nanba, Asukai, Nomiya, 
Konjo, Matsuki, Jimyoin, Shijo, Yamashina, Aburakoji, Washio, 
Minase, Reizei, Kajuji, Karasuma, Inokuma, and Rokujochigusa.

Historical Personal Names

Personal Names for Bushi

For a high-ranked bushi , such as shogun, daimyo , high officials 
of shogunate etc., two kanji characters with noble images were 
combined and used. Choose two from the below and combine them.

  Sane-, -Yoshi-, -Tada-, -Ie-, -Tsuna-, -Yasu-, -Yori-, -Mochi-,
  -Taka-, -Kane-, -Tomo-, -Nobu-, -Naga-, -katsu-, -Toki-, -Masa-,
  -Mitsu-, -Hisa-, -Hide-, -Toshi-, -Sada-, -Kuni-, -Aki-, -Shige-,
  -Nori-, -Mune, -Uji, -Mori, -Tsugu

For example, Yorihisa , Kanemori , Sanetoki

There was a wide variety for a low-ranked bushi . Ichiro (the first 
son), Jiro (the second son), Saburo (the third son), Shiro (the 
fourth son), Goro (the fifth son), and their variation such as 
Chojiro , Kanzaburo , Heishiro , Daigoro etc. were commonly used. 
-Emon, -Ji, -Zo, -Suke, -Be are also common such as Kuemon , 
Hikozaemon , Goemon , Heiji , Heizo , Kinnosuke , Kanbe , Hyobe , 
Denbe etc.

Personal Names for other people

People who are neither the noble or bushi such as farmers, 
merchants, craftsmen, have only their personal names, but not 
family names. So they called each other by their personal name 
with place names or shop names. For example, Ryobe of Honda 
village, Kansuke of Echigoya cloth store, etc.

Their names were similar to those of low ranked bushi .

Female Names

There was a wide variety of names for women. Here are famous women 
in Japanese history.

     Sei, Shizuka, Tomoe, Masako, Ichi, Yodo, Kasuga, Nene, Koi,
     Tsukiyama, Matsu, Tama, Tara, Man, Sen, Yoshi,

The word hime means ``princess,'' so a woman named Koi could 
called Koihime if she was noble and not married yet.
The suffix gozen was used for a wife of a Bushi , such as 
Shizuka-gozen . In is the suffix for a num. When a bushi died, his 
widow usually became an ama (nun) in a amadera (convent). Such a 
widow renamed herself, and put the suffix to her new name. Here are 
famous nuns in Japanese history.

     Hoshun-in, Kenbai-in, Kensei-in, Koudai-in


Names for Modern Japanese

Modern Family Names

There are thousands of family names in Japan. The most common 
family names are Suzuki, Tanaka, Yamamoto, Watanabe and Saito. 
Many common family names consist of two kanji. For example, 
Tanaka is Ta-Naka, Ta means "ricefield" and Naka means "in". Maybe 
ancestor of Mr.Tanaka had lived near ricefield. I listed the kanji 
used most frequently in family names. Choose two from the list below 
and catenate, and you will get a Japanese family name, or a name 
that sounds like Japanese. For example. Mae-kawa (means in front of
the river), Kita-mura (the north village), Iwa-moto (near the rock) 
and so on.

  fuka-(deep), asa-(shallow), mae-(front), yoko-(side),
  nishi-(west), kita-(north), higashi-(east), minami-(south),
  ao-(blue), aka-(red), kuro-(black), kiyo-(pure), iwa-(rock),
  ishi-(stone), matsu-(pine wood), sugi-(cedar), take-(bamboo),
  -ki-(tree), -ita-(board), yone-(rice), -hayashi-/-bayashi(woods),
  -ue/-kami(upper), -shita/-shimo(lower), -hashi-/-bashi-(bridge),
  -mori-(forest), -tsuka-(ballow), -mizu-(water) -moto-(near),
  -naka-(in),-uchi-(in), -yama-(mountain), -oka-(hill),
  -saka-(slope), -no-(plain), -ike-(pond), -kawa-(river),
  -tani-(valley), -sawa-/-zawa(creek), -numa(marsh),
  -hata-/-bata(cropfield), -ta-/-da(ricefield),
  -shima-/-jima(island), -mura-(village), -saki-/-zaki(cape/edge)

Modern Personal Names

Male Names

Ichiro is a name for a first son. Jiro is one for a second son, 
Saburo is for a third son, Shiro for a fourth son, and Goro for 
fifth son. Some of modern male names end -ichi or -kazu suffix, 
both of which mean ``the first son,'' such as

  Eichi, Gen-ichi, Jun-ichi, Ju-ichi, Ken-ichi, Koichi, Kyoichi,
  Ryoichi, Ryuichi, Seiichi, Sen-ichi, Shin-ichi, Shoichi, Shuichi,
  Shun-ichi, Yoichi, Yu-ichi,
  Akikazu, Hidekazu, Hirokazu, Masakazu, Nobukazu, Shigekazu,
  Takakazu, Tomokazu, Toshikazu, Yasukazu, Yoshikazu

And -ji suffix means ``the second son,'' -zo does ``the third son,'' 
such as, Eiji, Shunji, Ryozo, Senzo .
Some names consists of the combination of those above, such as, 
Eichiro, Kojiro, Yushiro, Yugoro.

There are other Japanese male names.

  Akihiko, Akihiro, Akihito, Akira, Fumio, Fumihiko, Hideaki,
  Hidekazu, Hirofumi, Hirohisa, Hiroshi, Hisashi, Hitoshi, Jotaro,
  Katsuhiko, Katsumi, Kazuhiko, Kazuki, Kazunori, Kazuo, Kazushi,
  Kei, Ken, Kensaku, Kosaku, Kotaro, Mamoru, Manabu, Masafumi,
  Masaharu, Masahiko, Masahiro, Masaki, Masami, Masao, Masashi,
  Masayoshi, MasayoshiAkio, Michihiro, Michio, Naoki, Noboru,
  Nobuhisa, Nobuo, Nobuyoshi, Noriaki, Norihide, Norihisa, Norio,
  Osamu, Rintaro, Ryosei, Ryutaro, Satoru, Satoshi, Shigeaki,
  Shigeki , Shintaro, Sumio, TMasayuki, Tadao, Tadashi, Takaaki,
  Takafumi, Takahiro, Takao, Takashi, Takayuki, Takeshi, Takuya,
  Taro, Teruo, Tetsuhiko, Tetsunori, Tetsuo, Tetsuya, Tetsuyuki,
  Tomohiko, Tomoyuki, Toru, Toshiharu, Toshio, Toshiyuki, Tsutomu,
  Yoshifumi, Yoshimitsu, Yoshiyuki, Yukio, Yutaka

Female Names

Most of modern female names end -ko suffix, which means ``child.'' 
Such as

  Aiko, Akiko, Asako, Atsuko, Ayako, Chikako, Emiko, Eriko, Etsuko,
  Fujiko, Fumiko, Haruko, Ikuko, Junko, Katsuko, Kazuko, Keiko,
  Kimiko, Kumiko, Kyoko, Machiko, Maiko, Makiko, Mamiko, Mariko,
  Masako, Mayako, Mayuko, Mayoko, Michiko, Mihoko, Minako, Misako,
  Mitsuko, Miyoko, Momoko, Mutsuko, Nahoko, Namiko, Nanako, Naoko,
  Natsuko, Nayoko, Noriko, Reiko, Rieko, Rikako, Rinako, Risako,
  Ritsuko, Rumiko, Ryoko, Sachiko, Saeko, Sakiko, Sakuko, Sakurako,
  Sanako, Satoko, Sayoko, Shoko, Seiko, Tadako, Takako, Tamiko,
  Tokiko, Tomiko, Tomiko, Yoko, Yoshiko, Yukako, Yukiko, Yumako,
  Yumiko, Yuriko, Yutsuko

Some female names end -Mi suffix, which means ``beauty.'' Such as,

  Ami, Asami, Emi, Harumi, Honami, Kazumi, Kumi, Manami, Mami,
  Masami, Masumi, Mayumi, Mutsumi, Nami, Nanami, Naomi, Narumi,
  Natsumi, Nomi, Remi, Romi, Satomi, Yumi

There are some other names and what the name (usually) means.

  Ai (love), Akane, Aki, Arisa, Ayame (sweet flag flower), Chiaki,
  Chika, Chisato, Ema, Eri, Fumi, Fumie, Fumiyo, Hatsue, Hatsuyo,
  Hitomi (eye), Ikue, Isako, Izumi (fountain), Jun (pure), Katsue,
  Kazue, Machi, Madoka, Mai (dance), Maki, Mari, Maya, Mayu, Mayo,
  Megumi (charity), Miho, Mina, Mio, Misa, Misato, Miya, Mizuki,
  Naho, Namie, Namiyo, Nana, Nao, Narumi, Natsumi, Nozomi (hope),
  Rie, Rina, Risa, Rui, Sachi, Sae, Saki, Sakura (cherry), Saya,
  Sayuri, Sayo, Shinobu (perseverance), Shiori, Tamiyo, Tokie,
  Tokiyo, Yayoi (March), Yu, Yui, Yuka, Yukari, Yuki, Yuma, Yuri
  (lily), Wazuka

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Hope it helped.

Ja ne...
          Paul Hetzel
          Translator of DNA^2
          E-mail: ahetzel at hotmail.com


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