New Post
Search
HelpEnglish and Japanese name
I'm British, and my partner is Japanese. We will be having a baby (girl) soon. We've been thinking about names and it's quite hard, since we want a name that could work in both England or here in Japan, given we could move to England (back, for me) at some point.
Obviously some names are off the table. Something like "Violet" is too English, and would be rendered as Biorettu anyway, which would just sound odd and foreign in Japan. On the other hand, a female name like "Akane" would be very foreign back in the UK, and everyone would probably mispronounce it as "a cane", when it's "a-ka-neh".
Something like Mina (English, works in both) or Mio (English, works in both) would be good, though neither of us are keen on it.
Feel free to share good boy names too!
Oh, and my name is "Taylor", so do bear in mind that in any case she'll have my foreign surname...
Obviously some names are off the table. Something like "Violet" is too English, and would be rendered as Biorettu anyway, which would just sound odd and foreign in Japan. On the other hand, a female name like "Akane" would be very foreign back in the UK, and everyone would probably mispronounce it as "a cane", when it's "a-ka-neh".
Something like Mina (English, works in both) or Mio (English, works in both) would be good, though neither of us are keen on it.
Feel free to share good boy names too!
Oh, and my name is "Taylor", so do bear in mind that in any case she'll have my foreign surname...
Archived Thread - replies disabled
1
Replies
I will be combinated one English name and second Japanese name.
Mayu/Bara Adalheid
Mayu Alanis
Mayu Ásdís
Mayu Alena
Mayu Aloisia
Mayu Amala
Mayu Astrid
Mayu/Bara Boann
Mayu Bébinn
Mayu Brigid
Mayu Bertha
Mayu Brynhild
Mayu Branwen
Mayu/Bara Ceres
Mayu Dagmar
Mayu/Bara Danu / Danann
Mayu Diana
Mayu/Bara Edyth
Mayu Edda
Mayu Elfryd
Mayu Elodie / Alodie
Mayu Epona
Mayu Ériu
Mayu Erinn
Mayu Edeltrud
Mayu Eirene
Mayu/Bara Felicitas
Mayu Flora
Mayu Freya
Mayu Frigg
Mayu/Bara Galla
Mayu Genovefa
Mayu Gertrud
Mayu Gerd
Mayu Gudrún
Mayu Gwendolen
Mayu/Bara Adalheid
Mayu Alanis
Mayu Ásdís
Mayu Alena
Mayu Aloisia
Mayu Amala
Mayu Astrid
Mayu/Bara Boann
Mayu Bébinn
Mayu Brigid
Mayu Bertha
Mayu Brynhild
Mayu Branwen
Mayu/Bara Ceres
Mayu Dagmar
Mayu/Bara Danu / Danann
Mayu Diana
Mayu/Bara Edyth
Mayu Edda
Mayu Elfryd
Mayu Elodie / Alodie
Mayu Epona
Mayu Ériu
Mayu Erinn
Mayu Edeltrud
Mayu Eirene
Mayu/Bara Felicitas
Mayu Flora
Mayu Freya
Mayu Frigg
Mayu/Bara Galla
Mayu Genovefa
Mayu Gertrud
Mayu Gerd
Mayu Gudrún
Mayu Gwendolen
This message was edited 5/8/2017, 10:45 AM
1
Taylor = Teiroru or Teiraa?
Names I like that work in both (including English names that aren't weird in katakana):
Aiko
Akiko
Yuka
Kira
Sakura
Aria or Alia (although they'd be the same)
Mara
Keiko
Rina
Hana
Mariko / Mari
Kaia
Kara
Kiana
Ariana
Nikita
Reina
Mira
(note: my taste in Japanese names is probably pretty dated. For instance I like Aiko but iirc Ai is more trendy now, or was in the recent past)
Names I like that work in both (including English names that aren't weird in katakana):
Aiko
Akiko
Yuka
Kira
Sakura
Aria or Alia (although they'd be the same)
Mara
Keiko
Rina
Hana
Mariko / Mari
Kaia
Kara
Kiana
Ariana
Nikita
Reina
Mira
(note: my taste in Japanese names is probably pretty dated. For instance I like Aiko but iirc Ai is more trendy now, or was in the recent past)
1
Kimiko
:-)
:-)
1
I really like Japanese names.
I think these work well in English and Japanese, I know people with these names including children, also there names that people should be able to pronounce and there names with beautiful meanings as well. Sorry about repeats.
Mika
Saki
Misa or Misaki
Karin
Kaya
Hana or Hanako
Maia
Mayuri
Mai
Aimi
Natsumi
Megumi
Kaori
Hina
Izumi - could have the nickname Izzy which could be cute
Marina
Mari or Mariko
Saya
Yuki
Sakura
Please Vote PNL:
I think these work well in English and Japanese, I know people with these names including children, also there names that people should be able to pronounce and there names with beautiful meanings as well. Sorry about repeats.
Mika
Saki
Misa or Misaki
Karin
Kaya
Hana or Hanako
Maia
Mayuri
Mai
Aimi
Natsumi
Megumi
Kaori
Hina
Izumi - could have the nickname Izzy which could be cute
Marina
Mari or Mariko
Saya
Yuki
Sakura
Please Vote PNL:
1
The only good suggestion that I can think of is Hana. It has a nice meaning, but I'm just wondering if you're concerned about popularity because, from what I've noticed in the latest surveys, Hana (by sound) is a popular name to have at the moment in Japan.
Other suggestions I had in my mind:
Rio
Suzu
Hina
Other suggestions I had in my mind:
Rio
Suzu
Hina
1
My co-worker is Japanese (Megumi, goes by Meg) and her husband is British (English/Scottish). They recently named their daughter Kirie (桐絵). They're pretty open about the fact they lifted it from the comic Uzumaki by Junji Ito, because they're both huge comic/horror nerds. They fully anticipated it being pronounced ki-ree or kee-ree amongst English speakers and kee-r/lee-ey (or something like that?) in Japanese, especially because most English people can't do a Japanese l/r sound. And yeah, I think it's not-my-style but pretty cool, certainly unique.
By the same token, I worked before in my previous job with a woman called Tomoko (she was my age, I gather that -ko names are on the way out, so I remembered it) with a really, really common, really English surname - so, like, Tomoko Smith or something. Nobody really batted an eyelid. I only remember her because she was nice-ish but so, so, so anal-retentive it drove me insane.
So basically, imho, I think if you want, you can go for a quite Japanese name and it'd still be okay in the UK, and, for me at least, it's fine if it's a name that's pronounced different in English and Japanese as well, as long as you expect that to happen and if it doesn't bother you. (I mean, my name's Lorena. I get called some very, very weird pronunciations of my name, and standard pronunciations vary between languages. I just accept it now.)
So, names that can work in Japanese and English, I think...
Aimi
Aki
Ami
Anna
Aya
Ema
Emi
Erika
Hana
Hina
Kara
Karen / Karin
By the same token, I worked before in my previous job with a woman called Tomoko (she was my age, I gather that -ko names are on the way out, so I remembered it) with a really, really common, really English surname - so, like, Tomoko Smith or something. Nobody really batted an eyelid. I only remember her because she was nice-ish but so, so, so anal-retentive it drove me insane.
So basically, imho, I think if you want, you can go for a quite Japanese name and it'd still be okay in the UK, and, for me at least, it's fine if it's a name that's pronounced different in English and Japanese as well, as long as you expect that to happen and if it doesn't bother you. (I mean, my name's Lorena. I get called some very, very weird pronunciations of my name, and standard pronunciations vary between languages. I just accept it now.)
So, names that can work in Japanese and English, I think...
Aimi
Aki
Ami
Anna
Aya
Ema
Emi
Erika
Hana
Hina
Kara
Karen / Karin
This message was edited 5/6/2017, 12:54 PM
1
I love Japanese names :)
These work well in both English and Japanese :)
Marina (I have a Japanese friend names this)
Erika (I know several Japanese girls named this)
Naomi (was really common in Japan in the 70s)
Hina
Rina
Noa
Mika (Mika, Noa, Rina and Hina are all used in Japan and work well in England too)
Mia (I read that this was used many decades ago in Japan)
Sara
Anna (Sara and Anna come from western influences but they are common in Japan now)
Sakura (I think this doesn't sound too foreign)
These work well in both English and Japanese :)
Marina (I have a Japanese friend names this)
Erika (I know several Japanese girls named this)
Naomi (was really common in Japan in the 70s)
Hina
Rina
Noa
Mika (Mika, Noa, Rina and Hina are all used in Japan and work well in England too)
Mia (I read that this was used many decades ago in Japan)
Sara
Anna (Sara and Anna come from western influences but they are common in Japan now)
Sakura (I think this doesn't sound too foreign)
1
Thank you both!
1