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My name is a joke (literally) - Apache Chief - 2011-08-29
So lately I've been coming to terms with the fact that my name (Jordan) is pronounced ジョーダン. As in 冗談. As in "jest; joke; funny story". This makes me somewhat distraught. I know there must be other people who have or know someone who has this name, so I'll ask you: do you ever get made fun of or mocked by Japanese speaking people because of your name? I don't know how big of a deal it is because of how common homonyms are, but the only times I've ever seen or heard my name is when people are laughing at something, which worries me that I'll always be associated with a joke or not taken seriously. Or maybe it's nothing. It's kind of petty, but it's just something that's been bothering me.
My name is a joke (literally) - Ginmanm - 2011-08-29
Want to trade names?
My name is a joke (literally) - SammyB - 2011-08-29
If you are actually worried you can always introduce yourself as ジョールダン or ジョーデン or whatever you want really...
My name is a joke (literally) - Apache Chief - 2011-08-29
True, since none of these transcriptions are actually my name, I'm basically learning to respond to a new name. I could be anything really...
Ginmanm Wrote:Want to trade names?Who's asking?
My name is a joke (literally) - ta12121 - 2011-08-29
Cool name in Jp, i'd say you should just keep it. You can get into conversations without breaking a sweat.
My name is a joke (literally) - yudantaiteki - 2011-08-29
The accent might be different. Have you asked a native speaker about that?
My name is a joke (literally) - fakewookie - 2011-08-29
ta12121 Wrote:Cool name in Jp, i'd say you should just keep it. You can get into conversations without breaking a sweat.Exactly, you should see this as a good thing and use it to be funny.
My name is a joke (literally) - mezbup - 2011-08-29
I'd say shorten it to ジョー that way it's still close but not a joke. You don't want to have to always feel like ur saying "hi I'm a joke" when introducing urself.
A friend once told me bout this guy who went to teach English in japan and his last name was Morell (sp???) and anyway in Japanese it's rendered as モレル of course. Now to a japanese that's going to sound like 漏れる. So I'm sure he had a wonderful time introducing himself as "hi I'm mr piss pants". Some names just don't work nicely in Japanese.
My name is a joke (literally) - Tzadeck - 2011-08-29
You can write it and pronounce it ジョーデン if you want to avoid the problem, even though ジョーダン is closer to the English. I've met others who have done the same thing with that particular name.
Or you could just learn to love it, haha. I have two friends named Jo(anna) and Dan, who worked at the same high school in Japan. Together, they became known as 冗談. At the cultural festival one year they did a skit called まあいける冗談 (a fairly well-known pun on the name Michael Jordan, meaning "A pretty good joke".)
My name is a joke (literally) - Apache Chief - 2011-08-29
I like the idea of going by ジョー when I don't feel like playing the wacky gaijin role. But maybe my real name has more potential than I thought... It could certainly be worse. Anyway, thanks guys.
My name is a joke (literally) - Asriel - 2011-08-29
I was going to say go with ジョーデン, but that's already been said so...
Coincidentally, I stumbled upon this yesterday:
People who's names are funny when katakana-ized
My name is a joke (literally) - mezbup - 2011-08-29
Among my close friends there's a one called Ken and one called Ben. Together they became nicknamed as 検便 hahaha. True story.
My name is a joke (literally) - six8ten - 2011-08-29
Sorry, I can't take someone named "Apache Chief" seriously. Too much Superfriends when I was young.
Somewhat more seriously, in regards to names in Japanese, back where I grew up, most people shortened "Robert" to "Rob" (I don't like the name "Bob"). In Japan, I always go by the full "Robert" or "Ro ba to" as it usually comes out. Going with just "Rob" ends up being "roba" or "robu", and I'd rather not be referred to as a donkey or a robe. Back when I was teaching English, some students did refer to me as "Mr. Robato", which was kind of funny. I usually didn't bother correcting the whole "Mr." with last name, not first name issue, as most of my students weren't at a high enough level to worry about it.
An ex-girlfriend used to try to pronounce the second 'R' in "Robert" but it usually came out sounding like "Robber" when she did, especially funny when she combined it with her attempt at my middle name of "Lyle" which came out sounding like "liar". Hence, I stick with just plain "Robato".
My name is a joke (literally) - DevvaR - 2011-08-30
If it makes you feel any better, when my name is loosely translated into Chinese, it means carrot head (meaning vegetable/empty head/idiot). My family and now my work mates have caught onto the joke.
My name is a joke (literally) - LazyNomad - 2011-08-30
Apache Chief Wrote:So lately I've been coming to terms with the fact that my name (Jordan) is pronounced ジョーダン. As in 冗談.The accent is completely different, so they are not pronounced the same.
ジョウダン (gaijin name) the accent is on the 1st mora, じょうだん (冗談) the accent is on the 3rd mora.
My name is a joke (literally) - AlexandreC - 2011-08-30
Reminds me of 2 girls that were introduced to me recently, Asuho and Yuu. "I'm Yuu" or "I'm Asuho" never fails to surprise English speakers.
My name is a joke (literally) - jordan3311 - 2011-08-30
lmao sorry its just that's my name as well XD
My name is a joke (literally) - dizmox - 2011-08-30
LazyNomad Wrote:ジョーダン and ジョウダン aren't pronounced the same anyway.Apache Chief Wrote:So lately I've been coming to terms with the fact that my name (Jordan) is pronounced ジョーダン. As in 冗談.The accent is completely different, so they are not pronounced the same.
ジョウダン (gaijin name) the accent is on the 1st mora, じょうだん (冗談) the accent is on the 3rd mora.
My name is a joke (literally) - theadamie - 2011-09-05
I think I can win this game
my name is Isaac, and Japanese pronounce it likeアイサク ＝ 愛作 which means "make love" ^___________^
My name is a joke (literally) - ta12121 - 2011-09-05
theadamie Wrote:I think I can win this gameDon't interpret this as me being an a-hole or anything. But when I read: アイサク, my brain converted it to I suck. アイ=I サク=suck
アイサク ＝ 愛作 which means "make love" ^___________^
My name is a joke (literally) - ta12121 - 2011-09-05
AlexandreC Wrote:Reminds me of 2 girls that were introduced to me recently, Asuho and Yuu. "I'm Yuu" or "I'm Asuho" never fails to surprise English speakers.lol, people could interpret that in so many ways. But for now, I'll just say: yea it definitely surprises English Speakers.
My name is a joke (literally) - SomeCallMeChris - 2011-09-05
dizmox Wrote:ジョーダン and ジョウダン aren't pronounced the same anyway.Ehhhh? Really? Long and long ago I learned that じょー、じょお、じょう all have the same pronunciation, only the spelling differs. Well, mostly the long O-sound spelling issue only comes up with 'to' not 'jo', except in the case of loan words. I've never heard or seen anything before today to contradict that long ago lesson and certainly can't distinguish them myself. But it's possible I'm not listening for the distinction... do you have any reference to point out for how these pronunciations differ?
Also, Isaac, you can insist on spelling your name アイザク if you're bothered, but I don't think a non-crude version of 'make love' that is more often written than spoken is going to win out over the extremely common 'じょうだん' for unfortunate names (and pitch accent or no pitch accent I'm sure puns will be made on poor Jordan at some point!)
My name is a joke (literally) - donjorge22 - 2011-09-05
You can always come up with a Japanese name, y'know. In Cantonese, my name sounds like "blocking [the way]" (and in any case, Sinofied (sp?) English names generally sound dumb) so I now introduce myself as 王樂榮 instead
My name is a joke (literally) - Tzadeck - 2011-09-05
theadamie Wrote:I think I can win this gameYour name does not mean make love. あい is a reading for 愛 and さく is a reading for 作, but they don't mean make love when put together. In fact, they don't mean anything. Even 愛を作る doesn't mean anything.
アイサク ＝ 愛作 which means "make love" ^___________^
愛作 is, however, the name of an izakaya somewhere in Yamanashi Prefecture. And it is also a female first name (あいさ） or surname (あいさく) (あいざく). So, your name is... a Japanese name, haha. (Isaac should be written as アイザック anyway... right?)
ジョーダン, however, does mean joke. So you lose the game.
My name is a joke (literally) - Tzadeck - 2011-09-05
SomeCallMeChris Wrote:Yeah, the じょう in 冗談 is pronounced the same as じょお. Kenkyuusha gives the pronunciation as "jo/oda\dan." Though, I don't know what intonation you would use with the name... but, at any rate, intonation alone is not a big distinction.dizmox Wrote:ジョーダン and ジョウダン aren't pronounced the same anyway.Ehhhh? Really? Long and long ago I learned that じょー、じょお、じょう all have the same pronunciation, only the spelling differs. Well, mostly the long O-sound spelling issue only comes up with 'to' not 'jo', except in the case of loan words. I've never heard or seen anything before today to contradict that long ago lesson and certainly can't distinguish them myself. But it's possible I'm not listening for the distinction... do you have any reference to point out for how these pronunciations differ?