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Cool Japanese girl's name - Tobberoth - 2009-12-21
bluemarigolds Wrote:This is what me and my GF has decided to do. Swedish first name, Korean second name and Japanese third name, in case we live in Japan.shirokuro Wrote:Edit: Or why don't you name her with a Japanese first name and an English middle name, or vice versa? Then people could call her by either.Second this. I have a Korean friend who named his kids (1/2 Korean, 1/2 White) with a Korean first name and an English middle name. That way, growing up they're called by their Korean name and when they're older they can decide if they want to go by their middle name. If it was done the other way around as many people do, he says they'd never use their Korean name...so what would be the point of their having one? His daughter's Korean name is absolutely beautiful: Hae Yeon.
Congratulations to you and your gf on the baby!
Cool Japanese girl's name - LaLoche - 2009-12-21
Congratulations!
I agree with the earlier posters that names that work in both languages might be wise; if later she decides to deny one heritage, she won't be saddled with a really Japanese or really Anglo name. How about May, Meg, Maya, Hannah/Hana, Erika, Lisa/Risa, etc...?
Cool Japanese girl's name - TaylorSan - 2009-12-21
How about
恵美子 （えみこ）
In English it could be shortened to "Amy"
おめでとう！
Cool Japanese girl's name - chamcham - 2009-12-21
I've always liked the named Risa, which is indistinguishable from Lisa in Japanese.
But somehow Risa sounds like a much cooler name,.
Cool Japanese girl's name - CerpinTaxt - 2009-12-21
Hashiriya Wrote:But a real name I really like is きりこ but I don't know the kanji for it... It just sounds nice to meI've seen it written 桐子
Cool Japanese girl's name - Nukemarine - 2009-12-21
Will you daughter ever forgive you if she found out you picked her name off advice from an internet forum?
Wait ... isn't that sort of how Densha Otoko got rolling?
Cool Japanese girl's name - Hashiriya - 2009-12-21
Nukemarine Wrote:Will you daughter ever forgive you if she found out you picked her name off advice from an internet forum?by the time she realizes it, it will be normal
Wait ... isn't that sort of how Densha Otoko got rolling?
Cool Japanese girl's name - Transparent_Aluminium - 2009-12-21
Getting advice from an Internet forum isn't so bad. I figure Bhodisamaya will get a second opinion and discuss it with his girlfriend. He's not going to just hit the "I feel Lucky" button and call her 運子. Right?
Cool Japanese girl's name - ocircle - 2009-12-21
Goodness, I would just give the poor girl a normal name. You don't know if your child is going to grow up and become a Japanophile or not, and I don't think it's right for you to impose your own hobbies on a child who isn't even born. Not to mention the kids, if they are as rotten as the ones near me, will make fun of her endlessly using her middle name if it sounds "funny".
If you don't plan on moving to Japan with this child for an extended period of time, I suggest you pick the name that is the most obvious and suitable for her.
Cool Japanese girl's name - bodhisamaya - 2009-12-21
jonjimbo2000 Wrote:I'm in a similar position. My wife will give birth to our first baby in February. We don't know if it's a boy or girl so we need to think of both.Hitomi would be perfectly happy with the child having two English names but I want a Japanese name as well. She asked to chose the English name. I get stuck with the impossible task of finding a cool and sweet yet uncommon Japanese name.
I want a name that's both English and Japanese but my wife seems happy with a purely English name.
Just can't seem to come up with any good ideas!!!
ocircle Wrote:Goodness, I would just give the poor girl a normal name. You don't know if your child is going to grow up and become a Japanophile or not, and I don't think it's right for you to impose your own hobbies on a child who isn't even born. Not to mention the kids, if they are as rotten as the ones near me, will make fun of her endlessly using her middle name if it sounds "funny".The mother is Japanese and we plan on living here indefinitely． As long as the economy doesn't collapse before America's anyways.
If you don't plan on moving to Japan with this child for an extended period of time, I suggest you pick the name that is the most obvious and suitable for her.
I was given a normal name and hated it. So boring. When I got older I had all three names legally changed to reflect qualities I wanted to grow into.
Cool Japanese girl's name - Ryajinor - 2009-12-21
Hashiriya Wrote:Gotta love future-proofing your children.Nukemarine Wrote:Will you daughter ever forgive you if she found out you picked her name off advice from an internet forum?by the time she realizes it, it will be normal
Wait ... isn't that sort of how Densha Otoko got rolling?
Cool Japanese girl's name - Blahah - 2009-12-21
bodhisamaya you're buddhist right? You could give a nod to the Japanese buddhist tradition by choosing a name which refers to it in some way. I don't know any off the top of my head, but it would be an appropriate way to devote the name to your child by carefully researching this avenue and choosing one which conveys some personal meaning, as well as carrying a deep social reference to Japan.
Cool Japanese girl's name - bodhisamaya - 2009-12-21
Blahah Wrote:bodhisamaya you're buddhist right? You could give a nod to the Japanese buddhist tradition by choosing a name which refers to it in some way. I don't know any off the top of my head, but it would be an appropriate way to devote the name to your child by carefully researching this avenue and choosing one which conveys some personal meaning, as well as carrying a deep social reference to Japan.I have thought about that, but I don't want to force my views on her. I will teach her the foundations of compassion and wisdom but try not to do it with a religious theme. Japan is said to be a Buddhist country, but I have yet to meet any Japanese person who knows the Four Noble Truths, the most basic of all Buddhist teachings.
Cool Japanese girl's name - ocircle - 2009-12-21
o_O that's probably because being Buddhist does not mean you go to a temple regularly and read up on translations on the Buddhist scriptures, but rather that you sorta believe reincarnation, you've thought about how eating meat might be inconsiderate, and that you think that life always balances itself out.
Oh yeah, and once a year you might hit up a popular temple on Buddha's birthday for a tour.
Cool Japanese girl's name - Zarxrax - 2009-12-21
How about アリス？ Works pretty well in either language.
Cool Japanese girl's name - zohar - 2009-12-21
bodhisamaya Wrote:Yeah, even though I'm a practicing Jew, I always want to talk with Buddhists to learn more about their ideas, but most Japanese I meet have a knowledge mostly restricted to how much money to give at funerals...Blahah Wrote:bodhisamaya you're buddhist right? You could give a nod to the Japanese buddhist tradition by choosing a name which refers to it in some way. I don't know any off the top of my head, but it would be an appropriate way to devote the name to your child by carefully researching this avenue and choosing one which conveys some personal meaning, as well as carrying a deep social reference to Japan.I have thought about that, but I don't want to force my views on her. I will teach her the foundations of compassion and wisdom but try not to do it with a religious theme. Japan is said to be a Buddhist country, but I have yet to meet any Japanese person who knows the Four Noble Truths, the most basic of all Buddhist teachings.
Not sure if you know already, but you really have a LOT of freedom in designing personal names. You don't even have to stick to the available readings for the characters. (My fiancee's name is 匠美 read as なるみ、 even though な is not a real reading for 匠。 Her father wanted to give her the character 匠 since it is part of the name of the tiny village where he grew up, and because it has the connotation of mastery in some sort of art or other craftsmanship. He wanted to use なるみ for the reading because it has the play on words for "becoming beautiful". Even though you will never find な as a reading for 匠 in any dictionary ever, he still did it and it is perfectly acceptable to do so, even if the child might often have to correct others who might read the character wrong.) The point is that you can really do whatever you want with creating a name.
However, be aware of certain stroke count issues (some are lucky, some aren't apparently) and the fact that if you take on a Japanese surname, a name that has a common theme in the characters throughout both names looks kind of weird (like having the radical for water in one of the surname characters and then again in one or both of the personal name characters.)
My point of this long post is that you can really do something awesome with her name if you put some thought into it. Some people say names determine who the child will grow up to become, so while you can ask people here of course for ideas or leads, still spend some time pouring through a kanji dictionary just staring at the characters. When something finally jumps out at you, write it down and share it with your gf to see what kind of connotations she gets from it. In my personal opinion, unless you were going to move back to your previous country to raise your child, growing up in a kanji-using country as a child with a katakana name will feel a little lifeless. Your gf may think a katakana name seems trendy and cool, but as your daughter is continuously asked where she's from and when she's going back (to "her own country") throughout her childhood by teachers and classmates, the novelty will wear off quickly. Give her a kanji name so that she at least has the option of trying to fit in with the other kids if she wants to. And give her a private English name if you feel the need for that too. But to be honest, having a "non-English" sounding name isn't as stigmatized as it used to be, at least in America. A Japanese name, even overseas, will probably still be fine (and cool to other people, probably...)
Cool Japanese girl's name - jonjimbo2000 - 2009-12-21
bodhisamaya Wrote:Strange the way my Japanese wife wants an English name and I want a Japanese name (or one which works both ways). I just feel the kid will have an English family name so I want to reflect both parents cultures.jonjimbo2000 Wrote:I'm in a similar position. My wife will give birth to our first baby in February. We don't know if it's a boy or girl so we need to think of both.Hitomi would be perfectly happy with the child having two English names but I want a Japanese name as well. She asked to chose the English name. I get stuck with the impossible task of finding a cool and sweet yet uncommon Japanese name.
I want a name that's both English and Japanese but my wife seems happy with a purely English name.
Just can't seem to come up with any good ideas!!!
My parents are happy because its their first grandchild that will have the family name. I think it would be nice for her parents for us to give the baby a Japanese name.
shirokuro Wrote:Or why don't you name her with a Japanese first name and an English middle name, or vice versa? Then people could call her by either.I like this idea. What's the deal with middle names in Japan? When I went to the city hall to get married they were very confused by my middle name. They kept asking if it was connected to my given name or my surname. I dont think they were used to dealing with foreigners. It was quite amusing.
Cool Japanese girl's name - zohar - 2009-12-21
You can't really register a middle name... It would have to be connected to the given name (and therefore in their eyes be PART of the given name).
That's the main way around it, think. Japan doesn't have middle names, so it confuses the heck out of city hall when you try to register one...
Cool Japanese girl's name - bodhisamaya - 2009-12-21
I like the suggestions of using kanji that sounds English.
@zohar
That is very interesting. I was wondering how much leeway was allowed in creating unique names using kanji.
@ocircle
It could mean those things I suppose. There are no concrete beliefs one must accept. It is required to have put serious thought into what you believe so you can debate your view though. To blindly accept anything is thought to be foolish. Traditionally a student will spend years contemplating the Four Noble Truths before moving on to anything else. If in that contemplation you find 苦集滅道 to be faulty, it is better to just relax and enjoy this life and not bother continuing with Buddhist studies.
Cool Japanese girl's name - Jarvik7 - 2009-12-22
Using nonstandard readings for kanji isn't a good idea. It means no one will ever be able to read their name without furigana or being told, which can get very annoying. It would be like naming your kid Bob but spelling it Baube. They will eventually come to hate their name.
Even strong buddhist believers in Japan don't choose Buddhist names for their kids. Buddhism isn't like Christianity with biblical names since Japanese Buddhism is more a state of mind than a real firmly structured scriptural religion. No one really directly learns about Buddhism unless their family is very hardcore, or they want to be a monk/nun. All most people know about Buddhism comes from 昔話 or stuff that is just embedded in the culture (mixed with Daoism and Shinto so no one knows what is what). Also, naming your kid Shaka or Daruma or something will just ensure that their life is hell throughout school.
What believers DO do is goto the temple and ask a monk to choose a name for their kid, or choose the characters for a name the parents have already chosen.
Cool Japanese girl's name - OsakaDan - 2009-12-22
How about 有紗 （ありさ）, which would be Alysa (A-lee-sa) or Alissa (A-liss-ah) depending on if you are English or American。
I also know a girl called Meri （芽里） which would also work well in English
Cool Japanese girl's name - b0ng0 - 2009-12-22
Tobberoth Wrote:I generally like names starting with S.I know a girl who's called Sachiko, I don't think it's a guy's name.
さおり
さえこ
しおり
さえこ is nice, but becomes bad in an English context. "Haha, psycho."
EDIT: さちこ sounds like a male name to me, mainly because I have a friend named さちひろ whom we simply call さち.
Cool Japanese girl's name - bodhisamaya - 2009-12-22
These are some names that could be used as English or Japanese that I have come up with or included from suggestions from this thread so far. Hitomi is not exited about any of them so far but eh...
If sex is a sin, God's punishment is forcing you to live with a pregnant woman.
美姫 Mikki
美喜 Mikki
真野Maya
喜美 Kimmi
真理 Mollie
琳妥 Linda (a stretch but she likes Linda for some reason)
花 Hana
恵美 Amy
愛理 Ellie
恵 Kay
慶 Kay
純 June
花麗 Hanalei (Hawaiian)
花恋 Karen
Cool Japanese girl's name - Smackle - 2009-12-22
Names ending with こ (子) tend to be female names.
Cool Japanese girl's name - bodhisamaya - 2009-12-22
Smackle Wrote:Names ending with こ (子) tend to be female names.Not cool any more:
２００９年の人気の赤ちゃんの名前