damichan
Member
Registered: 2009-02-06
Posts: 10
Real name: Damian
I have a Japanese friend who's been living in the states for 12 years, who swears that the katakana translation of my name is:
ダミアン
However, this isn't how my name is pronounced. This is how I type my name:
デミアン
She told me that when they make names, they translate relative to the letter, not to the pronounciation. I want to sign my name the way I want to; yet, when I go to Japan in a few months, I want to do what is traditional.
Any thoughts?
KristinHolly
Member
From: Boston
Registered: 2008-07-21
Posts: 148
I don't think people are going to make too much of a fuss over one kana if you explain that it's more accurate for pronunciation. I lived in Japan right after college and officially registered my name as クリスティン. Everyone pronounced it "Christine," which began to be annoying after awhile, but it was too late as I had already made a name stamp and filled out all the documents. This time, I officially registered my name as クリステン. This seems to help with the pronunciation, but sometimes people misspell it as クリスティン, going by the English spelling. And I realized too late that I picked a bad spelling for Holly, which is now being pronounced "Who-lee." If you're concerned, why not get a few Japanese natives to pronounce the two versions for you, so you can be sure?
I did a little Google search-- you wouldn't be the only Damian / デミアン
http://search.varietyjapan.com/moviedb/ … 08535.html
http://www.has-inc.co.jp/f_profile/steven_damian.html
Last edited by KristinHolly (2009 February 28, 9:52 pm)
It's your name, so choose the katakana spelling/pronunciation you like and go with it.
I commonly see people spelling my name as ドジ, ドチ, ドッチ, ドッヂ, and ドッジ; however I prefer ドッジ and tell people such when the time comes. I've been at my schools for 1.5 years, and they still often spell my name differently (pick any of the above).
urpwnd
Member
From: Maryland
Registered: 2007-12-07
Posts: 30
smujohnson wrote:
デイミエン would be your best bet, if it were me.
"de i mi e n" would sound really weird, unless you meant ディミエン (which still sounds weird) or you put an extra syllable in the first part of his name.
Either way, the original way damichan wrote it, would likely be デミアン, which when said out loud sounds like the way everyone I've ever known named Damian actually says their name. Some people emphasize the first syllable a little more, and then you'd end up with テーミアン.
Like my name, Kirt. When mishmashed together into katakana, ends up as カート because クーレト sounds completely stupid, and there is no way of turning the vowel sound in Kirt (pronounced:kərt, with a schwa) into anything intelligible in Japanese. Haha.
So you may call me by the other thing written this way in Japanese. I am a cart. Turns out I'm pretty popular in Japan anywhere you can buy things, and on the internet too. Right on the amazon.co.jp home page, for example. ^_____^
Last edited by urpwnd (2009 March 01, 7:59 am)
Ben_Nielson
Member
From: Japan
Registered: 2008-12-19
Posts: 164
Easiest name ever... "Ben"
Yeah, just pick the spelling you like and go with it. You should point out to your Japanese friend how bad Japanese names sound when pronounced in English due to Romaji not being a direct phonetic transliteration (wonder if that's the right terminology). And that making the same mistake when moving from English into Japanese is just silly.
Easiest example, Ichiro (often pronounced like "itcherow").
Some Japanese people have changed their names to have more accurate pronunciation. For example, Seattle Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima (Jojima -> Johjima)
Last edited by Ben_Nielson (2009 March 01, 8:14 am)
joxn_costello
Member
From: Seattle, WA
Registered: 2006-06-29
Posts: 59
As Ben_Nielson says, the "a" is a lengthener in "Joan", so ジョアン would be perversely literal. ジョ-ン would also be okay, I think.
The problem (as I see it) with "John" is that the vowel is actually an intermediate vowel that no combination of kana will get you, somewhere between "ah" and the "aw" in "jaw", but nothing (to my ears) like "jo" in かのじょ.
Anyway, I'd argue that it's much like why you rarely see the romanizations "hu", "ti", "si", "zi" in English. There's a strong analytic argument for them, but no English speaker would pronounce them correctly, so they're not popular.
