Does anyone know the significance 1,000 (千) in Japanese culture?

Many expressions contain 1,000 (Chiba, Senbazuru, many first names contain Chi-, etc.), so I assume it has a special significance.

None of the Japanese people I asked knew why that number comes up so often and I couldn't find anything online either.

I don't know, but if I had to guess, I would say that it doesn't have any particular significance, and is just used as a convenient number to mean "a lot", similarly to English.

As for Chiba, according to the Internet:

この地名は、「茅（ちがや）」が生い茂る土地で「茅生（ちぶ）」と呼ばれ、転じて「ちば」になったとする説や、葉が多く重なる意味で「千葉」になったとする説。

Which suggests that either the 千 in the name of Chiba is used just for its reading, or just to mean "many". There's a place called Thousand Oaks in California - I imagine the same thing is happening there. I'd hazard a guess that 千 being in people's names happens for both of those reasons.

Seconding fakewookie with 千 also meaning 'a lot'. goo lists the meaning of 千 as

〈セン〉
１ 数の名。百の十倍。「千人・千両箱／数千・一騎当千・海千山千(うみせんやません)」
２ 数の多いこと。「千言・千秋・千客万来・千差万別・千里眼」
〈ち〉「千草・千鳥／八千代」
http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/125...%E5%8D%83/

Hmm... I get that it means "a lot", but I'm not convinced it doesn't have a deeper meaning.

I mean, if you call your daughter Chinatsu, there has to be a deeper meaning than just "a lot of summers". There's got to be some element of luck or prosperity involved. Just like you could make a whole bunch of paper cranes; why bother make exactly a 1000? That number HAS to have another significance. Is it the same in Chinese?

AlexandreC Wrote:Why make a thousand?

It seems like one reason might be this saying regarding lifespans 「鶴は千年、亀は万年」.

Have you met anyone named China2?

I've met a couple of Chikas, but nobody that's used the reading Chinatsu

six8ten Wrote:I've met a couple of Chikas, but nobody that's used the reading Chinatsu

I don't know if Jarvik7 was joking... but Chinatsu is not an uncommon name. Neither are Chisato, Chihiro, etc.

AlexandreC Wrote:

six8ten Wrote:I've met a couple of Chikas, but nobody that's used the reading Chinatsu

I don't know if Jarvik7 was joking... but Chinatsu is not an uncommon name. Neither are Chisato, Chihiro, etc.

千夏 ちなつ ...
若槻 千夏 「わかつき ちなつ」
中山 千夏 「なかやま ちなつ」
大坪　千夏 「おおつぼ　ちなつ」

千紘、千尋、千裕　ちひろ ...
小林 千紘 「こばやし ちひろ」
山中 千尋 「やまなか ちひろ」
新井 千裕 「あらい ちひろ」

千里　ちさと ... (also せんり)
森下 千里 「もりした ちさと」
森高 千里 「もりたか ちさと」
森下 千里 「もりした ちさと」

ちなつ, ちひろ, and ちさと can be written with different Kanji.

中田　ちさと （AKB48 member　)