Names in Nihongo

[Fehrant]

So, despite having limited knowledge in a subject (Japanese), I wanted to make up a nickname, but I'm not familiar with how readings of names and lastnames (let alone a nickname) work. Of course, this is not to say I have not seen kanji of nicknames, and their respective romaji. From my experience, I've seen that the correct reading of a name/last name is pretty much irregular; it doesn't follow any rules. To put it in more technical terms, some kanji might be read in onyomi, but others in kunyomi, sometimes everything is kun, or on.

Now, a nickname might be more complicated (at least the type that I'm looking for), because unlike the name (and sometimes lastname) that doesn't necessarily have to mean something in its entirety and can be a set of isolated kanji, the nickname has to.

One of my favorite kanji is 狼 (ookami/rou), or rather I like wolves, so I thought about using that in a nickname. However, when I tried to add a second kanji to it, I ended up not liking the sound. Then again, was I thinking about the right readings? That's what concerns me.

I just wanted anyone willing to explain me a bit about Japanese names, and how they are read, I even saw in some cases that the kanji used weird readings that wouldn't otherwise be used in words at all. I just want to know what I need to keep in mind (general naming rules, I guess?), so that I can create a decent nickname.

[nice gaijin]

i guess the question is, do you want a Japanese name as a nickname, a Japanese word as a nickname, or a Japanese-sounding pseudo-word?

[Fehrant]

True. I admit I might have been a bit vague, here. Well, you know, if you look at Japanese names, and try to make something out of all the kanji in the name, you'll end up with something that might not make much sense. Then again, you might.

I'm looking for a nickname, and I placed emphasis on this word because a nickname, at least the type I'm thinking, has to make some sense. For example, as I was trying to make up a name, I thought of what kanji to combine with ookami; I thought of 冬, I thought of 夜... things like that so the nickname would end up being a title in itself (winter wolf) but at the same time would have a nice sound to it.

At any rate, it's not that I pretend you guys to come up with a nickname for me. I just would like you to give me some general examples and tips on actual names, and if you'd like, nicknames. For instance, as I mentioned before, I noticed that names can use on and kun reading combined together. I noticed that kanji meanings that end in つ and are followed by another word, just double the constant, pretty much like 殺 (satsu) + 気 (ki) would end up being "sakki". I'm talking about things like that. I am fairly new to kanji, but I know kanji names are a whole different world, and as far as I could tell, they don't follow a set of rules. Yet, I'd like to know, and see some examples, so that helps me have some pointers in mind when making a nickname.

Again, I just want to say that I don't pretend you guys to come up with a nickname for me. I just want to know how combined kanji names work. That's all.

[Glenn]

It's probably fair game, but I don't know about 冬狼 or 夜狼: those don't make sense to me. I would suggest going with all on or all kun once you've decided on characters, though. Also, you can make a name out of a kanji and an English word, although I doubt you want to do that.

I came up with 小龍 for myself, and read it しょうりゅう, as that seemed to be the best combinations of readings for those two characters. Then I found out that it was what Bruce Lee was called. Nowadays I go by 小瀧, due to my girlfriend not being able to get 小龍 right. That one is read こたき. One of my friends gave me the kanji 紅蓮 for グレン, which is pretty nice. As a side note, I also have a Chinese name: 謝葛仁, which as far as I know is read Xìe Gěrén (I don't even want to try to put that one into Japanese... しゃかつじん?... eh).

Anyway, I think one thing that's important is to run the characters you've chosen by a Japanese person, because only they'll be able to tell you if it makes sense to Japanese people. Plus they can give you confirmation or pointers on what readings to choose. Well, good luck! :-)

[Fehrant]

Thanks for the pointers, Glenn, and the tidbits of information from your experience. Though our knowledge gap is huge, I still appreciate it.

[Tomii515]

omg my nickname for Japanese a bet no one else has cause it's sooooooo originalll OoooOO it's トミー　Ｏｏｏｏ　Ｉ’ｍ　ｇｏｏｄ　；－）

[nice gaijin]

I came up with 小龍 for myself, and read it しょうりゅう, as that seemed to be the best combinations of readings for those two characters.I've been hanging around with my pun-loving host dad too much, cause I read that as こたつ :p

[Bucko]

Read a good article on Japanese names last night. Quite interesting...

http://www.jat.org/jtt/elliott02.html