my name in kanji

[tottoro]

is it possible to write my name "jenny" i kanji?
and if it id, does it have any meaning?

would be very grateful if anyone could help me

[Maciamo]

I am sorry Jenny, but there are no kanji with a "je" reading in Japanese.

[Luz-chan]

Originally posted by Maciamo
I am sorry Jenny, but there are no kanji with a "je" reading in Japanese.

Maciamo-san is right. There's kanji for "Jennifer" and "Jenna."

Jenna:

Jennifer:

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by Luz-chan
Maciamo-san is right. There's kanji for "Jennifer" and "Jenna."

Jenna:

Jennifer:

Rakuen and junsui ? I suppose it depends how close she wants to get.

[GaijinGirl]

I have been curious about naming in Japanese. In English people's names usually mean something, though the written form of the name is pretty far-removed. For instance, my real name means "justice" or "one who is just."

Would a name like that in Japanese seem strange? What do names mean in Japanese? Can a name just be a random collection of syllables that is found aesthetically appealing?

A book on kanji that I was reading that was published in the 50s said that there is a government-approved list of kanji that can be used in names. The first time they approved a list, it was short about ninety (i think) kanji, so many children could not be registered and became legally nameless. After that the government re-released a list with more kanji in it. Do people still have to choose from a list?

[edit 1 minute later:]
I don't intend the paragraph above to sound in the least bit denigrating. The advantages of a standardized finite list of kanji is more apparent to and appreciated by anyone with the daunting task ahead of learning all of them!

[tottoro]

oh...to bad.
just wanted to know if you could write it but then I guess it canｴt.
thanks anyway for your respons

[luzie]

uh, how about this??
(I don't think this is what you exactly wanted...
but isn't this second best thing?)

JI:kindness,tenderness
E:boon
NII:new,novel,fresh

[later]
aww....I think this name looks like boy's name...sorry...

[luzie]

>GaijinGirl san
yes, still we have a list and we have to choose from that.
but many kanji were added the list.
now we can use 2230 kanji for our babies.

Japanese names also mean something.
my real name means "tree tops".
my boyfriend's name means "clever".

Can a name just be a random collection of syllables that is found aesthetically appealing?

um,not really.
each kanji has own meaning.
so many parents search or combine kanji which have both good meaning and "aesthetically appealing" syllables.

eg
Hikaru means light,brightness,usually this name uses one kanji.
Aiko....she is Japanese imperial princess.
her name uses two kanji.
Ai means love and Ko means child.
her name means beloved child.
other Aiko are possible,eg,Ai(this Ai means indigo:I think this is beautiful color, so some parents use this kanji for their baby)ko.

[tottoro]

thank you Luzie...that was a bit close anyway...even if it's not totally right.
but thank you very much

[Tiger]

Yes, Japanese names usually mean something. Japanese parents pay attention to both the meaning of the Kanji, and also the number of brush strokes used to create the Kanji. This is something of a superstition or strange belief, that a certain number of brush strokes in the name can have an effect on the child's life and can bring good fortune.

Tiger

[kirei_na_me]

It was a headache naming our 3 sons. First, my husband went through all of the Japanese name books--that his father sent him from Japan--saying each name out loud until we both agreed on one that sounded good. Then, he wrote down all possible Kanji for whatever name and told me what each one of them meant. Then, he had to add up the number of strokes for the first name and add them to the number of strokes of the last name and then look them up in a chart in the back of the books. If the end number gave you an X, that was out of the question, if it showed a triangle, it was just okay, and if it was a circle, you were fine. I had to go through this process with each of each of my children. Just another way the Japanese are superstitious.

星夜 Seiya

瀬奈 Sena

龍魁 Ryuukai

Those are my sons' names in Kanji and Romaji. I think the "Se" part of Sena is right...hmmm...

[luzie]

Originally posted by kirei_na_me

星夜 Seiya

瀬奈 Sena

龍魁 Ryuukai

WOW!!!
beautiful names!!!
May all your sons be happy with their own good names.

my parents didn't care about the numbers of stroke,
I think they didn't believe such superstitions.
and maybe I won't.

[Nanashi]

Hello, I am new here, but this topic interested me. I have read that Nanashi means 'no name' or 'nameless' and that 'ko' means child (usually a girl) but would Nanashiko be a socially acceptable name? Also, I have heard Nanashiko being used as 'step child' was this person just mistaken?

Thank you!;)

[nikki_the_insane]

Originally posted by Nanashi
Hello, I am new here, but this topic interested me. I have read that Nanashi means 'no name' or 'nameless' and that 'ko' means child (usually a girl) but would Nanashiko be a socially acceptable name? Also, I have heard Nanashiko being used as 'step child' was this person just mistaken?

Thank you!;)

Hmm, Iwent to the website to translate my english name to katakana and it said that the 'ko' in Nikoru (Nicole is my english naem) meant sweet perfume or happiness. I'm not quite sure though since I know very little about the japanese language.
Edit: I guess it would all depend on which language part you were using.

Edit again: I found the translation of step child to romanji it's suteppu chairuddo. I'm supposeing you are wanting it the written way then symbol. If someone wants to help me wiht her name since I barely know what I'm talking about myself, lol, I'd appreciate it and Nanaahi would too!

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa Nanashi-san!

Welcome and Hajimemashite. Please enjoy the forum!

Yes, Nanashi means "no name" or "nameless" and "-ko" in girl's name means child.
But usually Nanashiko do not make sense. "Nameless child" is "Nanashi no Ko" in Japanese.

"Na" means name in Japanese and "Nashi" means "No" or "Nothing". Nanashi is a compound word of "Na" and "Nashi".
And "Stepchild" is "Mamako" in Japanese.

NANGI

[V.I.B]

Originally posted by Tiger
Yes, Japanese names usually mean something. Japanese parents pay attention to both the meaning of the Kanji, and also the number of brush strokes used to create the Kanji. This is something of a superstition or strange belief, that a certain number of brush strokes in the name can have an effect on the child's life and can bring good fortune.

Is that something related to Feng Shui or do the Japanese have such a belief in the first place?? (^_^;n) Kanji words seems quite similar to Chinese words and most of the time they even have similar meanings so.. I know the Chinese believed in Feng Shui and the brush strokes in one's name apparently can affect a person's life depending on his/her time and date of birth. (At least I am superstitious enough to believe in it..)

I recently went to see a feng shui master who told me my original name in chinese is very harmful for me, the strokes in the name I mean.. and if I had been born with low luck would not even survive till now @@||b (even went to the extent of showing me clippings of obituary of people with names containing similar strokes to me and stuff ) Originally my name was written as 佩芬 but it was then change to another word with with same sounding 碚? Am not sure if this words will appear correctly in an English or Japanese browser coz it's written in tradition big5 chinese.. Is there such wordings in Japanese kanji? I tried to search for them but there isn't. I only know my name written in katagana and it's written as followed: ウォンペイフェン so it will be cool if those words can be read in Japanese too. (sweat) (For example, some Japanese names can pronounced in Chinese, 星夜 is "xin ye", 瀬奈 is "lai nai" and 龍魁 is "long kui"...etc)

Is it a must for all Japanese to have kanji in their names? Sorry to ask so many questions at one go.. am just a little curious and confused here because I sometimes see authors or even Japanese using all hiragana when they write their name..

ThanQ~

------------------------------------------

[luzie]

feng shui?
you mean 風水?
yes,I know,though I'm not familiar with it.

Kanji words seems quite similar to Chinese words and most of the time they even have similar meanings

because all Kanji and Kanji words came from China!
Kanji is 漢字.
I heard Japanese Kanji pronunciation is based on old Chinese,like age of Han(漢),Sung(宋),Ming(明).
not only 漢字, many other Chinese cultures like Chinese poem,fables,phrases,Confucianism,theory of Yin-Yang and the five elements(陰陽五行?),political institution etc.(oh so many!!!) came to Japan.
Chinese people educated Japanese and Japan.(many thanks to China!!)

Is it a must for all Japanese to have kanji in their names?

not all.
There're some people who have Hiragana name only,most of them are girls.
because(it's my guess,there must be other reasons):
1.Hiragana name gives Japanese the impression of soft.
2.Japanese language has too many homonyms.
Kanji name expresses only 1(or at most,2) meaning but Hiragana name can express some meanings.
3.Hiragana name has less stroke count.very simple

[Erzsebet]

Hello, I was searching my name in kanji but I found always in Romanji, or too small examples. My name is Elizabeth, Erizabesu in japan language. I had to find it. Please anybody can help me??

Thank you,
Erzsebet

[luzie]

Originally posted by Erzsebet
Hello, I was searching my name in kanji but I found always in Romanji, or too small examples. My name is Elizabeth, Erizabesu in japan language. I had to find it. Please anybody can help me??

Thank you,
Erzsebet

Kanji names are for only Japanese and Chinese(or Korean who have Kanji name).
there're no kanji correspond to Elizabeth or Erizabesu,
so if you want your Kanji name,
you can choice your favorite unisonant Kanji.
search here!
http://saikam.nii.ac.jp/search/kanji.html

[Psycho Dad]

Hi there!

I´m suffering from one really hard to translate last name. It´s "Freytag", japanese pronunciation: "フライターグ".
I thought about shortening it to "Furai", in Kanji e.g. 風礼.

I don´t want to use more than the commonly used two or three Kanji. Any better suggestions?

The meaning of my last name is "Friday" like the week day. So i thought about renaming it to 金曜日, too. Would that sound ridiculous or confusing in Japanese?

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by luzie
Kanji names are for only Japanese and Chinese(or Korean who have Kanji name).
there're no kanji correspond to Elizabeth or Erizabesu,
so if you want your Kanji name,
you can choice your favorite unisonant Kanji.
search here!
http://saikam.nii.ac.jp/search/kanji.html

Here are some kanji for Elizabeth by meaning just begging to be decoded

神乃約束、神野宣誓　−　purely denotative

恵霊座辺蘇、叡理座迷守　−　combination denotative & phonetic

[billiken]

Originally posted by Elizabeth
Here are some kanji for Elizabeth by meaning just begging to be decoded

神乃約束、神野宣誓　−　purely denotative

恵霊座辺蘇、叡理座迷守　−　combination denotative & phonetic

Once,100 years or more ago,the Japanese wrote Europeans' name in kanji mostly.
Those days, "Elizabeth" was written to be "依利薩伯".
By the way, now in China, Queen Elizabeth is written to be "伊麗莎白".

[King of Tokyo]

my real name wes or wesley, cannot be directly translated i feel the pain of people who cant translate their name lol

[billiken]

HongKong movie "衛斯理 藍血人".
衛斯理 is Wasley.;)

[Elizabeth]

Originally posted by billiken

Once,100 years or more ago,the Japanese wrote Europeans' name in kanji mostly.
Those days, "Elizabeth" was written to be "依利薩伯".

"Haku" sounds like it would indicate an association with royalty rather than as an ateji character. Although what is the third one? Is it still used today? All told, something about relying on your profits or depending on your advantages....