My name in Japanese

[ViciousBrutality]

I really don't know much about the whole japanese naming system, but I don't like the way my name translates in Japanese, and I was just checking to see if it is possible to create my own japanese name by putting together common kanji used for names, or should I just go through a list and pick one out? you tell me.

-X-

[budd]

all of them

[jeisan]

i used katakana.

[jspecdan]

depends upon what kind of name you want. you should be known as "kintama"

[budd]

oooooohhhhh!!!

[neko_girl22]

this is my name 香里奈. My husband made it for me when we were dating ::love:
It has a nice feel to it I'm told. Unlike someone I know who translated her name phonetically and the kanji can also be read as "always drinking". hehe

[kirei_na_me]

I just always use Katakana for mine. I've never really felt the need to use Kanji for my name. In Katakana, my name(Rachel) is written like this:レイチェル, and in Romaji, I would spell it like Recheru, even though I'm told the formal way would be to spell it like Reityeru....hmmmm...

[jeisan]

or you can go by raichu, like the pokemon :p

[jspecdan]

or you can go by raichu, like the pokemon

haha.:D or "Bafundake"

[kirei_na_me]

Originally posted by jeisan
or you can go by raichu, like the pokemon :p

I'm sure that would be way cool to my 5 year old if he had a mom that named herself after Raichu... :p

[Master-Of-Sorrow]

Huh?

Is it a way to use kanji in writting foreign names?

I always thought that you should use katakana...

[Johnathan]

Translated phonetically in Kanji

People actually do that? I thought my girlfriend was the only one. She told me she "wrote her name in Kanji" a long time ago, and explained. Her name is Amber, and she found a couple ways to write Kanji that matched アンバー and アマバー. But she only did that for fun, she doesn't write it like that. Her and I both use Katakana.

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by Johnathan
People actually do that? I thought my girlfriend was the only one. She told me she "wrote her name in Kanji" a long time ago, and explained. Her name is Amber, and she found a couple ways to write Kanji that matched アンバー and アマバー. But she only did that for fun, she doesn't write it like that. Her and I both use Katakana.
There are actually several ways to convert Western names into kanji -- based on spelling or meaning per shown in books like this. And of course it's all "just for fun" if you're not a Japanese national. Nothing is going to be officially recognized in North America or Europe that I'm aware of :).

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/4900737356/103-0832613-8859058?v=

[Keiichi]

I use katakana: James -> Jeemusu, or sometimes Jeemuzu

[Kat]

I forget where I translated my name. It was a long time ago that I did it. :/

It told me that my name in Japanese is Kyasuri.

[Punk の軍のロッカー]

And Mine...

Maikeru

マイケル
:happy:

[Punk の軍のロッカー]

And Mine...

Maikeru

･ﾞ･､･ｱ･�
:happy:

[Swifty]

Can someone tell me mine?

My name is Dave or David

Thanks I have always been curious ^_^

[samuraitora]

Aw. Come on. Raichu...why don't you like it...lol

私の　名前は　日本語で　ジョン　です。

[Master-Of-Sorrow]

David --> Dauido
Dave --> Daue

[samuraitora]

I was told that you can get the v sound by putting the " on the u. Can anyone verify this? it is my last name.

Hoover ==>fu-u"a
The nihongo no sensei I had in high school told me that my last name is the fu, followed by a dash, then the u with the ", and an a

[Keiichi]

I thought v's were usually translated to b's. So Hoover would be like Fuuba (フーバ).

[Johnathan]

ヴ - vu

Add mini e's, a's, i's, o's to make into ve, va, vi, vo, etc. But I think B's are still used a lot more for V's in Katakana.

[Keiichi]

Do people use the v's a lot?
I think the only place where I've recalled v used was for Evangelion as E-va-n-ge-ri-o-n

[Punk の軍のロッカー]

Well let's see. If Visa is translated to Bisa...

Perhaps Dave would translate to Dabe... :note:

Edit In: I'm pretty sure there are no Vs in Katakana. Adding the " mark will change the Hs to Bs.

[Swifty]

YAY ^_^ :clap: :clap: :happy: :happy: :p :p

I have a Japanese name ^_^

Thanks for letting me know Master-of -Sorrow

Dauido or Daue ^_^

now only to learn how to pro-nounce it properly :eek: :note:

[Johnathan]

Out of all the English words with a V in them that were wrote in Katakana that I've ever seen, all but one used B. And I've seen a lot. I knew about the V's, which are for some reason, left out of Katakana charts half the time... but the first word I ever saw it in was in the band name "Oblivion Dust"; which they spell オブリヴィオン ダスト.

[Shigatsu]

My name in Kanji-
http://soniam.future.easyspace.com/nihongo/k/yon_k.gif http://soniam.future.easyspace.com/nihongo/k/getsu_k.gif

(hehe.)

エィプリル

[torakris]

v's are used in katakana it just depends on the vowel that comes after it. An "i" as in the name David would be writen would be written with a v while just Dave that ends in an "e" would be written as b.

The name David is written like this
ﾃﾞヴィッド　（day-vwi-ddo)

the v sound in katakana is sort of a cross between a v and a w and it can also be use to translate the w sound into katakana.

[samuraitora]

thanks for the info. So, what would "Hoover" look like? Was the information give to me right?

[torakris]

hoover would be written

フーヴァー

[Punk の軍のロッカー]

Originally posted by torakris
v's are used in katakana

You know a website that has rule's on all the Kana. I know the basic ones for Sho, Cho, etc. But rare one I never see like the Vs...

[torakris]

ヴァ　va
ヴィ vi
ヴ　 vu
ヴェ ve
ヴォ vo

They aren't used all that much, but I have seen them all. Since katakana is used for loanwords, there are a lot of sounds that are used in other languages that the Japanese need to adjust for.

Another example would be some Korean words when written in katakana end with a small ku, to get the hard guttural k the Koreans sometimes use at the end of a word.

[Chipi]

Maybe someone could help me too. Iｴve been on a japanese course, but they havenｴt really taught us how to write our names in katakana..

My real name is a bit difficult, since it has a scandinavian letter in it, ﾄ .
My real name is P臺vi , (now you may see some mess in the place of that letter...so the mess is letter ｴaｴ with two dots on top of it.) so I usually write it Paivi for foreigners. If youｴd translate it to english, it would be something like Daisy, in the meaning. We pronounce finnish in the same that japanese pronounce their language, somehow "straight", we pronounce words like theyｴre written.

Then thereｴs of course my nickname, Chipi or Chipie...that would be great to know too :)

[nanaochan2]

Can anyone translate for me too? in both kanji and katakana
my nickname is Jin. I know "Jin" for other languages mean ghost or Ginnie(aladin that Ginnie),,,but i dun really care what it means i just like my own name and it is uncommon name...hehe

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by Chipi
Maybe someone could help me too. Iｴve been on a japanese course, but they havenｴt really taught us how to write our names in katakana..

My real name is a bit difficult, since it has a scandinavian letter in it, ﾄ .
My real name is P臺vi , (now you may see some mess in the place of that letter...so the mess is letter ｴaｴ with two dots on top of it.) so I usually write it Paivi for foreigners. If youｴd translate it to english, it would be something like Daisy, in the meaning. We pronounce finnish in the same that japanese pronounce their language, somehow "straight", we pronounce words like theyｴre written.

Then thereｴs of course my nickname, Chipi or Chipie...that would be great to know too :)
パイヴィ == Paivi
チピ == Chipi(e)

:note:

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by nanaochan2
Can anyone translate for me too? in both kanji and katakana
my nickname is Jin. I know "Jin" for other languages mean ghost or Ginnie(aladin that Ginnie),,,but i dun really care what it means i just like my own name and it is uncommon name...hehe
ジン　＝＝　Ｊｉｎ
And Over 20 name-Kanjis ;)

[Ewok85]

林檎美　利恩
ringobi rion

Appleby Leon

hehe, my friend made up my last name cause i was stuck. A good tradeoff between making sence and being my name.

[EscaFlowne]

what would tabarik be?

[billiken]

Originally posted by nanaochan2
Can anyone translate for me too? in both kanji and katakana
my nickname is Jin. I know "Jin" for other languages mean ghost or Ginnie(aladin that Ginnie),,,but i dun really care what it means i just like my own name and it is uncommon name...hehe
Hi, Jin.:bow:
You can choose only one out of the following
神,臣,人,仁,尋,甚,迅,陣,辰,陳,任,忍,稔
I recommend 仁. It is popular in Japan.;)

[EscaFlowne]

what about tabarik!!! Could someone translate???

[jeisan]

well i think whoever is gonna go the translation will need the proninciation of your name, eg.
taa-buh-rik
tah-bar-ik
tuh-bay-rik
tay-bah-rik
etc

[EscaFlowne]

its more like

Tah-bar-rik

[aurel1412]

hey my name is Ria--pronounced Ree-yaa i was wondering if there's any japanese name that sounds similar to it so that i can use kanji for it? im tired of using katakana :bow:

[Shidenkai]

Tan tan tanuki no kintama wa, kaze monai noni bu-ra bura!!!

[EscaFlowne]

is that for me?

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by EscaFlowne
is that for me?
No, Japanese doesn't have a "yaa" kanji sound. Sorry. :sorry:

[Shidenkai]

My name: Daikoku Bashira!

[Kagami]

Hi I'm new to the site. My name is Kagami. I was reading through this thread and I have a suggestion for those who want to know more Kanji. Pick up a copy of Kodanshas Kanji Dictionary. It's a great book. nice size pictures for the kanji, the order in which to write them and their meanings. Also try step by step japanese...another great book for learning grammar.

[howabe]

well... I tend to use Hadamitzky & Spahn's Kanji guide... it isn't as in-depth as a proper kanji dictionary, but it does a good enough job for me

[howabe]

I just used katakana though... cos my name (Ben) is easy to form...

[abbyn]

I'm curious what mine would be also. Abigail or Abby. thanks!

[EscaFlowne]

continues to wait for someone to help with his name.

[I love i have a unique name but dang!!! i want it translated.] :)

[Elgin]

I used a name translator and it says tabarik is "Tabariku" lol now that wasn't to hard

[silver_ash86]

I'm aware that Kanji is actually Chinese characters?? so can a Chinese name be read in Japanese? as in the same characters?? It may sound weird though...

[Glenn]

Originally posted by silver_ash86
I'm aware that Kanji is actually Chinese characters?? so can a Chinese name be read in Japanese? as in the same characters?? It may sound weird though...

Yes, the same characters are used, and the Chinese pronunciation can also be approximated (I think that this would usually be the case). Here (http://www.sf.airnet.ne.jp/~ts/japanese/dialogue2.html) is a dialogue in which a Chinese girl speaks with an American boy and a Japanese boy (in Japanese). After she introduces herself with the Mandarin pronunciation she is referred to with the Japanese one, so I guess it just depends on the person. My guess would be that if a Chinese person were living in Japan they would use the Japanese pronuciation, but if they were visiting they would use the Chinese one.

[ChinChira]

i used my chinese kanji, which turned out in this order * East Evil Power Earth* dont ask me how it works but all the other cantonese people seem to think its right = )

[Musoka]

I havent translated my real name yet but the username I am currently using is tranlasted to Day Dreaner

Does anyone know how to translate names into japanese?

[SacredBlue]

To translate non-Japanese names you have to spell them out phonetically in katakana.

I'm curious what mine would be also. Abigail or Abby. thanks!
Abby would be アビ(Abi)　or アッビ(Abbi), depending on how you pronounce your name.
Abigail would be アビゲル (Abigeru)

:bow:

[Hachiko]

This is my actual name in katakana:
･ｸ･遑ｼ･鬣､･｢･�

Here's my username in kanji:
･ﾏ･ﾁｸ�

[billiken]

Originally posted by Musoka
I havent translated my real name yet but the username I am currently using is tranlasted to Day Dreaner

夢想家 {むそうか / musouka} http://jiten.www.infoseek.co.jp/Kokugo?qt=%CC%B4%C1%DB%B2%C8&sm=1&pg=result_k.html&col=KO

[Hachiko]

Originally posted by Musoka
I havent translated my real name yet but the username I am currently using is tranlasted to Day Dreaner

Does anyone know how to translate names into japanese?

Don't know if this will provide much, but here is a web site that can create kanji and katakana/hiragana from romanji, minna-san:

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html)

[Musoka]

Thanks for the links guys, I found them very useful....only problem is I dont have japanese internet fonts installed on comp so I cant understand a thing on the websites or on this page :(

[Hachiko]

Right click your window, select Encoding, and Japanese. If you still don't have it...

Go to Windows Update,

Windows Update (http://www.windowsupdate.com),

and download the Japanese install pack there. That should help ya. ;)

[Musoka]

Thanks lots, that really helped me, before I wasnt able to do it for some reason and now I can ^_^

[Gaijinian]

If only my name were (was?) Garry...I'd make my Japanese name 下痢.

[Mycernius]

And Mine...

Maikeru

マイケル
:happy:
Same here with mine. I found it on a web page. I occassionally sign things using it, if I am feeling awkward

[J C]

My name is Jonathan, which causes a couple of problems in Japanese. Firstly, "th" doesn't exist as a sound, so the closest katakana-isation would be ジョナサン (jyo-na-san), but the problem with that is that it leaves me with a san at the end of my name - very confusing for people - they might think I'm called jyo-na and incorrectly adding san to the end of my name.

So when I lived in Japan I decided to call myself ジョン (Jyo-n), but the problem with that after talking to my students (I was an English assistant teacher) is that Jon is quite often used as a name for dogs (like Lassie, Fido, etc) :-). Aaah, you just can't win sometimes..

My hanko had my surname on it and all my Japanese mates loved looking at it because they'd never seen one with katakana written on it. Had to be specially made, of course.

[Nicky]

My name: Nicky

ニッキー
ニキー
ニーキー
ニキ


I've opted for "ニキ" since running it through Breen's dicitonary gave me tons of kanji combinations. The others didn't, except ニキー which brought up 新希太 【にきーた】. Though my family occasionally will call me "nikita" I'd rather stick with Nicky. =/

丹季 Is the combination I'd liked the most.

I've also looked around on the net for sites that would give me a name that had a similar meaning to nicky and I found one that said "shouri". (I can't seem to find the link to that site)

I'll stick with plain ol' ニキ for now.

[Baleegh]

Hello every one.I really don't know much about japanese I just Learning japanese and i'am traying to write my name but every one know in Japanese there is now (L) so i need some one to write my name and my name is (Baleegh).

[Gaijinian]

Use an "r"

[J44xm]

I figure this might be a sufficient place to ask about name order. It's said that you needn't reverse your Western name order when giving your full name in Japanese. If you don't do this, though, how will Japanese folks know which is your given name and which is your surname? Is there a way to specify? Or does it even matter?

[doinkies]

Most Japanese people know that gaijin from Western countries have their given name first and their family name last. In fact, when they write in English, most of the time they will write their names in Western name order, like how Hiroyuki Nagashima does. Western names are usually written like this: ジョン･スミス (the dot indicates where there was a space in the original English). doinkies' real name written in Japanese would be ジェニファー･バーマン.

[godppgo]

I just found out my Japanese name is はやし つより

[breez]

Haa, I guess my name in katakana would be ラウリ which is Lauri.

[nice gaijin]

In response to some of the posts on the first page:

For "David" You could use
デービッド (de-biddo), or
デイビッド (deibiddo), or
デーブ (de-bu), or
デービー(de-bi-).

katakana names are usually meant to sound like the real name, so using
ダベ (dabe), or
ダウエ (daue, which is closer to how the name is transliterated into chinese), or
ダウイド (dauido)
are way off even though the romaji looks the same. It is also much more common to change v sounds to b. You can write デイヴィッド but personally I don't think it flows very well, and is awkward to read and write. just be sure you don't just デブ ;)

David Aldwinckle legally changed his name when he attained japanese citizenship to the kanji 出人 (debito). I wouldn't recommend this method either; knowing the right pronunciation for a kanji name is difficult enough as it is, transliterating your western name only compounds the difficulties.

[Gaijinian]

I would not put my name in Kanji if it were Gary...　下痢
But if is straight-forward, well... then it might be OK

Ｌｉｋｅ　Ｅｍｉ（ｌｙ）　恵美（理）

[changedonrequest]

This link is to a silly site that might interest people in finding a "Japanese" name. It has nothing to do with writing your name in kana and I have no idea how it works, probably just a random thing. I apologize if people think this is taking the thread off topic, that is not the intent, just to add a bit of humor for the moment.

http://http://www.blogthings.com/japanesenamegenerator/

According to this site my "Japanese" name is Daiki Inoue.

[Puff]

I would have to use Katakana because my name is a American name

[J C]

Found this site and thought it might be of interest:

http://www2.japanese-name-translation.com/jnt/index.asp

This will translate your name into Japanese katakana (and into Kanji, for a price)

[Takaryo]

My pen name: Takaryo :okashii:

Taka: High, Tall (Describes my tallness) :D
Ryo: Just a name I picked up. Never translated it.

I discovered it kinda means...high(Taka) amount(ryo)... If I'm not mistaken...
I had this pen name since I was young. I also thought of it as Ryo=version up (higher version)

:blush: :D

[nice gaijin]

I would have to use Katakana because my name is a American name
You're right, but the legal reason you have to use Katakana is because you are from a country that does not recognize Kanji as characters in legal names. If you were born in the US or any other such country, you could not use Kanji for your name in legal situations in Japan, and would have to use katakana even for a name that is truly Japanese (in the case of, say, second or third generation immigrants). That couldn't stop you from using kanji in everyday use, but I do not think it could be considered your legally recognized signature.