ta you know i love you but dont do this. part of the reason your name is awesome is because it is in katakana. katakana looks fancy when compared to all the kanji names you see next to it. take a picture of this type of coin http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt … mp;dur=103

and have your friend put your katakana name on that. That was an idea i wanted to do with my name ムヒカ and a small diamond or circle to fill in the missing spot but never found anyone to do it.

Decided with this one 亞眼努

As for the vocab I will be putting onto the front of the laptop. I'm still deciding but I may also go with a place name like :  札幌北海道

Anyone got any good ideas? I was thinking of putting this one 準備中

Javizy wrote:

I agree with NoSleepTilFluent. Don't do this...

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3470/3354 … 07fdc4.jpg
http://www.otemo-yan.net/usr/takebow/tattoo1.JPG

Thank good I'm only doing this for my laptop.....

In all seriousness, are any of 亞眼 and 努 actually used in names? I've seen foreigners pick names using ridiculous characters for everyday objects, and there's even a terrible book that encourages people to make fools of themselves. Searching this dictionary shows they're used in some names, but they sound a bit unusual. Consulting a native might be helpful, but I think katakana would look much cooler etched onto a computer.

NightSky wrote:

Actually I'd probably say your best bet is to just choose a new Japanese name to refer to yourself by.

This is what I thought of when I read the topic. And actually, I find it cool to pick a Japanese name!

My two 円 too

I showed my Japanese friend your name and the first thing she did was laugh so take that for what it's worth, it's not an attempt to be mean or critical of your choice to do this.
At least it's not a full name change or a tattoo but I still can't imagine that is the reaction you're looking for.

tokyostyle wrote:

Javizy wrote:

I agree with NoSleepTilFluent. Don't do this...

You do realize the English t-shirt is a Shakespeare quote right?

(Even if I wouldn't wear it or get it tatoo'd on me I could understand the appeal of wearing a shirt with something like a Sun Tzu quote from Art of War.)

I guess there's an article hiding under the bag. The others I saw were a bit too offensive to post.

If the Japanese are as awful as Brits at pronouncing foreign names, I would understand why someone would want a Japanese name.

Sincerely,
Steen/Stino/Stiyan

kitakitsune wrote:

s0apgun wrote:

Do foreigners ever adopt Japanese names while staying in Japan? Kind of like all the Chinese people in America that go by Dave or Bruce?

I've never seen it. It's really lame IMO and I'm pretty sure most Japanese people would be far more comfortable using a katakana version of your real name.

BTW, does the Japanese government allow non-Korean or Chinese people to officially register a kanji name? AFAIK the Japanese government only allows people to register the name on their passport. So you can use a kanji name in your private life but the Japanese government will never recognize it unless you become a Japanese citizen and apply to change your name.

I'm not sure either. It would certainly be odd if Zhang Wei from China is permitted to register as 张伟 or some authorised kanji equivalent of his choice, while Zhang Wei from America has to use ジャングウェイ because his passport doesn't include the Chinese spelling　(forgive me if I got the transliteration wrong). Further, it'd be weird if Zhang Wei from America was treated differently from his neighbour Steve on the nebulous criteria of apparent Chinese-ness.

Of course one's status in the eyes of the government is just as one registered it when you made your initial visa application to the Japanese department of immigration and is ultimately reflected in one's residence card. I can't imagine them complaining if the American Zhang Wei wrote his name in kanji as well in the space provided, though maybe this might raise some eyebrows if a person with a Western name tried the same thing...

I don't know what the procedure is for taking a new surname when you marry either. Presumably you can take your spouse's surname when you make a 戸籍 without having to become a citizen first (though maybe this would require contacting one's home country's registry office to make the update). Are you permitted to create a new family name to be applied to yourself? If not, what about children?

I guess regardless of the rules one is free to use whatever sensible transliteration one wants wherever, except in very official documents.

Last edited by dizmox (2013 April 02, 8:30 am)

NightSky wrote:

When foreigners pick characters for their names they always seem to pick the most complicated ones they can find, but I'm not sure that's a great idea normally...

With all due respect to your 亞眼努 name, it looks a bit horrible to me. If you *must* Kanjify your name (personally I stick to Katakana..) then I'd pick as simple characters as possible probably.

Actually I'd probably say your best bet is to just choose a new Japanese name to refer to yourself by. I was going to do this once and ended up picking "Kai", spelt 海. Ultimately I never used it but I think that would be better than writing a western name in ugly over complicated characters ....

Just my 2c anyway

Actually that does make sense to. My Chinese friend who is making the design for me, said it looks to kanjified, I should stick with simple characters. Katakana can work to. Adopting a Japanese name does sound like the best choice but I have no idea which one would be the best choice to use, as there are way to many of them.

Crispy wrote:

I showed my Japanese friend your name and the first thing she did was laugh so take that for what it's worth, it's not an attempt to be mean or critical of your choice to do this.
At least it's not a full name change or a tattoo but I still can't imagine that is the reaction you're looking for.

haha, yea that is definitely not the one I'm aiming for. Sticking to katakana seems to make the most sense but having a so called "Japanese Name" also makes sense to me. Simplicity here seems like the best way to go.

ta12121 wrote:

Actually that does make sense to. My Chinese friend who is making the design for me, said it looks to kanjified, I should stick with simple characters. Katakana can work to. Adopting a Japanese name does sound like the best choice but I have no idea which one would be the best choice to use, as there are way to many of them.

Yeah, I've had people telling me to choose a Chinese name for ages but I've still not done it, picking yourself a new name to go by is actually really difficult. I was hoping for a good one that had reasonable characters and sounded good in both Chinese and Japanese, but never found one

You could always just pick a character from some drama or TV show you like and pick his name. That's where I got Kai from