Difficulty of reading names Japanese name

a name written in kanji may have more 1 common pronunciation, 1 of correct given individual. example, surname written in kanji 東海林 may read either tōkairin or shōji. conversely, 1 name may have several possible written forms, , again, 1 correct given individual. character 一 when used male given name may used written form hajime, hitoshi, ichi- / -ichi kazu- / -kazu, , many others. name hajime may written of following: 始, 治, 初, 一, 元, 肇, 創, 甫, 基, 哉, 啓, 本, 源, 東, 大, 孟, or 祝. many-to-many correspondence between names , ways written more common male given names surnames or female given names, can observed in these categories. permutations of potential characters , sounds can become enormous, overloaded sounds may produced on 500 distinct kanji , kanji characters can stand several dozen sounds. can , make collation, pronunciation, , romanization of japanese name difficult problem. reason, business cards include pronunciation of name furigana, , forms , documents include spaces write reading of name in kana (usually katakana).

a few japanese names, particularly family names, include archaic versions of characters. example, common character shima, island, may written 嶋 or 嶌 instead of usual 島. names feature uncommon kanji, or kanji no longer exist in modern japanese. japanese people have such names compromise substituting similar or simplified characters. may difficult input of kanji in computers, many kanji databases on computers include common , regularly used kanji, , many archaic or unused characters not included. odd problem occurs when elderly person forgets how write name in old kanji no longer used.

an example of such name saitō. there 2 common kanji sai here. 2 sai characters have different meanings: 斉 means or parallel , 斎 means purify . these names can exist written in archaic forms, 齊藤 , 齋藤 respectively.

family names written periphrastic readings, called jukujikun, in written characters relate indirectly name spoken. example, 四月一日 read shigatsu tsuitachi ( april 1st ), family name read watanuki ( unpadded clothes ), because april 1 traditional date switch winter summer clothes. in same way 小鳥遊 read kotori asobi ( little birds play ) or shōchōyū, read takanashi, because little birds (kotori) play (asobi) there no (nashi) hawks (taka).

most japanese people , agencies have adopted customs deal these issues. address books, instance, contain furigana or ruby characters clarify pronunciation of name. japanese nationals required give romanized name passport. recent use of katakana in japanese media when referring japanese celebrities have gained international fame has started fad among young socialites attempt invoke cosmopolitan flair using katakana names badge of honor. of these complications found in japanese place names.

not names complicated. common names summarized phrase tanakamura ( village in middle of rice fields ): 3 kanji: 田 (ta, rice field), 中 (naka, middle) , 村 (mura, village), in pair, form simple, reasonably common surname: tanaka, nakamura, murata, nakata (nakada), muranaka, tamura.

despite these difficulties, there enough patterns , recurring names native japanese able read virtually family names encounter , majority of personal names.

some common interesting names phonetic puns include michio kaku, mean draw path or lead way , , tsutomu hata, can mean work flag (nation) , kanji used write them obscure these meanings.