As you may or may not know, Japanese names are a little different than American names. For one, the obvious difference in how they're written, as most Japanese names are written with kanji, and a few with hiragana, not roman letters. Another is that Japanese names have very specific meanings. Sure my name means "pure" but it's not as if people run around calling me that. Most American names are the same way. Our names have meanings, but you have to look them up in a baby name book or online to find out what they are. (Unless you have a celebrity child style name like Apple. then you are a little weird, but have a Japanese style name.) Japanese names are everyday words used in conversation. For example, Aoi is a very popular name in Japan. I have at least 5 different students named Aoi. Aoi in English is blue. It's a very common word, I use it to describe the ocean, or what color Stitch is. It would be like instead of tons of girls running around with the name Katy or Isabella, or whatever name is currently super popular, they would all be named Blue. As you can see, that could get a little confusing. Am I describing something, or talking about someone? That's where the kanji comes in.
The thing to remember about kanji is that it's a picture based writing system, not a sound based one, which means a single kanji can have multiple pronunciations and meanings depending on what is written around it, where it is in the sentence, and context. When you see someone's name written in kanji, it's normal that you're not going to be able to read it unless it's a common name. Since each kanji can have different meanings and pronunciations, people will use different kanji to make their children's names unique and have special meanings. It also works backwards. If you hear someone's name, you'll probably have to ask them how to write it, as it could be written multiple different ways. Many names
have several writings, with different meanings according to the actual
kanji used. This is where furigana comes in. Furigana is tiny hiragana writing that tells you how to read the kanji. Hiragana is a sound based writing system, you don't have to worry about multiple meanings/pronunciations. When we get class lists of the students at school, we get their names in kanji AND in hiragana. Thank goodness, since I fail at reading kanji.
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| I stole this picture from here |
Anyway, you're probably thinking "This is interesting and all, but why are you going on about it?" The reason is this: today Kako-san gave me my Japanese name in kanji! I'm very excited! There were many different options as Keitorin is 3 syllables. I personally thought
毛糸燐 was fun, 毛糸 (keito) means knitting wool or yarn, and 燐 (rin) means phosphorus, so I could be phosphorus yarn! But that's a funny name, not really a good name. Also, names mean more when chosen for you, not when you chose them.
Kako-san chose:
佳友鈴
佳 - Kei. Can also be read as Ka. This kanji is also the first kanji in Kako-san's name. It means good, pleasing, beautiful, skilled, or excellent.
友 - to. Can also be read as tomo, along with a bunch of other pronunciations. It means friend.
鈴 - rin. Can also be read as rei, and a few others. It means small bell.
So, when put together, it's pronounced Keitorin, just like my name, but instead of written in katakana (the sound based writing system that is used to write foreign words, such as names,) it's written in kanji and means good friend bell. Very cute, right? I'm pretty happy!
As for my last name, it's 栗主天存, which can be roughly translated to the existence of a walnut God heaven. Or walnut God's heaven exists. Or something. 面白いね！(Interesting, right?)
I now must get a hanko that says it! Yay!
A hanko, also called an inkan, is like a signature. Instead of signing (since you can't really write kanji in cursive... haha, probably not really why they use them, but funny to think about!) people have hanko with their names engraved in them that they stamp. These are how you sign stuff at the bank and other important documents. Not something to be left lying around. My current one has my last name squished onto it in katakana. Usually Japanese names are 2 or 3 characters, as shown in the picture above. My hanko with it's 7 katakana characters makes a lot of Japanese people laugh. Anything I can do to provide entertainment I guess!
