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[Opinions] Japanese word-names
A ha! As I was searching for my cool-surname list (which I'm still looking for) I came across a list of Japanese names-from-words that my friend Akiko made for me, years ago. Some of them are SO BEAUTIFUL. She wrote down the meanings and characters for me too, what a gem!Girls:Yozora - the night sky
Aoi- blue, or mallow (I think what she has written here means that if it means "blue" it's feminine, and if it means "mallow" it's masculine?)
Asahi - the morning sun
Kisaki - a queen or empress
Himawari - sunflower
Ringo - apple
Ai - love
Hime - princess
Akane - madder
Mirai - the future
Sumire - violet
Ichigo - strawberry
Miyako - city
Yume - dream
Kokoro - mind, heart
Hinata - a sunny placeBoys:Tsubasa - wing
Yuki - brave
Kakeru or Sho - soar
Hikaru - shine
Ryu - dragon
Zen - everything or right
Seiya - star and night
Minoru - bear fruit
Daichi - the earth
Taiki - big treeI really like Mirai. Such a lovely meaning and such a beautiful sound. WDYT?
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some Jpns. word names I forgot to incl. before...Sakura - cherry blossoms... girl
Ayame (ah-yah-may) - a kind of flower (I forget which)... not very common name these days though ... girl
Kaede (rhymes w/ Friday)- maple ... Only real life one I met and other real life one I heard of were girls, but there's a male manga character floating around w/ that name, so I guess it can be for both
Mamoru - protect ... boys
Makoto - truth or sincere, depending which kanji is used (though I'm not sure whether sincere as a word is prn'd Makoto or not)... boys
Midori - green ... girl
Nami - wave (though other kanji can be used instead and often are)... girl
Nozomi - hope... girl
Megumi - grace/beauty/blessing ... USUALLY fem, but I did meet a man by that name last week... already mentioned that in an earlier comment on this list though
Seika (sayka) - hymn (depending on kanji used)... I have a friend whose daughter has this name with this kanji
Sanbi / Sambi - praise... the character from the syllabaries that represents just a nasal sound at the end of a syl sometimes is officially written n in roman transliteration, but the prn. is often more like an m when preceding a bilabial consonant, so it's basically just a nasal consonant that adjusts according to context. The one Sanbi I met was a pastor's son, but I've heard of girls with this name also. Guess it can go either way, but it's rare.
Migiwa - water's edge in somewhat old Jpns... used in reference to Ps. 23 among some Jpns. Christians, but many Jpns. have never heard of this name... I've met 3, 2 of which were pastor's daughters and 1 of which was a missionary's daughter. There's also a J-Gospel singer named Migiwa and I actually had fb popping up another Migiwa today in the "people you may know" spot, so apparently some other people I know know yet another Migiwa.

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This message was edited 1/11/2012, 3:02 AM

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I really like:Yozora and Mirai. I don't mind that they're trendy-popular, either. If I heard them all the time like AidenJaidenTooManyY'sInMyName, I probably would hate it. But, since I don't, I really like them!
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Actually, Yozora doesn't seem common at all. Mirai's not super-popular, but it's around... and more common than before. Just has that trendy parents-are-trying-too-hard-to-be-cool/unique feel to it.
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Yozora - the night sky
Never met or heard of anyone named this... prob'ly either old or rareAoi- blue, or mallow (I think what she has written here means that if it means "blue" it's feminine, and if it means "mallow" it's masculine?)
Both blue and the plant kanji can be and are frequently used for girls. It's kinda popular in recent years. Never heard of a boy with this name. It is among the names I like... but only for girls.Asahi - the morning sun
Don't know that anyone uses this name these days... It's the name of a newspaper chain and a drink company.Kisaki - a queen or empress
Never heard of anyone w/ this name either... maybe rare or not common these daysHimawari - sunflower
I've met one. It's cute and I like it.Ringo - apple
Rare... never encountered this oneAi - love
Pretty standard... USUALLY a girls' name, but I met a boy with this name last week... His dad was named Megumi (and so was his mum) and his little brother was Mari (truth), so I asked if they have a girl, do they plan to name her Akira (usually a boys' name, but occasionally used on girls... guess I could have mentioned Tsubasa as well since that's also usually for boys, but can occasionally be for girls as well).Hime - princess
Pretty rare these days.Akane - madder
Never heard of that meaning for the name, but it can vary depending on the kanji a family chooses.Mirai - the future
A friend of mine has a daughter w/ this name... It's kinda modern and trendy... nmsaa.Sumire - violet
Pretty... Not overused, but there are some... didn't realize that was the flower it was the name of... will have to look into that... Ichigo - strawberry
I know someone with a DOG named Ichigo... and someone who uses that as her code name on fb, but don't know of any PEOPLE with that as their real name.Miyako - city

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This message was edited 1/10/2012, 5:31 AM

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Thanks for the insight abbasdaughter! I was hoping you'd chime in :) Akiko did tell me that many of the names were not very common, and this was over ten years ago, also.
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You're welcome. I kind of thought my input would be expected on that one.Aoi and Mirai have possibly become more common since then than they were at the time.Another is Shinju, which means pearl... for a girl... don't think it's common, but it's been done.
Sora has become common on boys (means sky).
Yuki meaning snow is sometimes used on girls.

This message was edited 1/10/2012, 7:04 AM

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Ooh. I like...Yozora
Aoi (I'm not sure if I really like it much as a name, but it's cool. It's also the word used to describe new shoots of plants, etc, even though they're actually green)
Asahi
Himawari (Anna Himawari would be a good combo IMO)
Ai (I also like Aiko)
Mirai (I knew this was "future" but I never knew it was used as a name. Me likes.)
Sumire (I like the sound)
Yume
Kokoro
HinataIchigo and Ringo sound boyish to me. I guess they're fruit names and those are generally girls, but still...Tsubasa
Yuki
Sho (Kakeru sounds way too verb-y to be a name IMO)
Ryu (actually Ryuu is dragon, isn't it? If I remember right)
Zen (this would make a cool short form or nickname for something... like... Zander "Zen"? Some other longer Z name "Zen"?
Daichi
Taiki (can this also be 'big spirit', if you use the other kanji for "ki"?)My teacher's kid is name Taichi and I think the kanji she used for it was Tai "big" and chi "spirit" (like "ki").
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