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ArchivesRe: Some Japanized Western names
in reply to a message by Lumia
I am sadly not computer savvy enough to be able to make kanji appear in this reply. If you search for Naomi (2) on this site, it shows one of the most common kanji for this name: Nao meaning "straight, correct." There is one other very common spelling with Nao meaning "esteem." The suffix -mi is generally written in girls' names with a kanji meaning "beauty." There are other possible kanji for "-mi," but they are unusual.
Naomi is a special case in Japanized Western names, as "Nao" and "-mi" exist as native Japanese name elements. As was discussed in the post you referenced, Naomi fits so seamlessly with traditional names that most Japanese are completely unaware of its "Western" origin. This is not the case for the majority of Japanized Western names such as Erika or Erina, as well as Maria, Juria (Julia), Arisa (Alisa), etc. These are obviously, to a Japanese-speaker, of non-native origin. Such names are almost always written with "phonetic" kanji, one for each syllable, with the sound being the primary consideration and the meaning secondary. The number of potential kanji spellings for Erika and Erina is very large and it would be difficult to pinpoint the one, two or three most common.
I can't help with the question of when Erika and Erina were introduced to Japan.
Naomi is a special case in Japanized Western names, as "Nao" and "-mi" exist as native Japanese name elements. As was discussed in the post you referenced, Naomi fits so seamlessly with traditional names that most Japanese are completely unaware of its "Western" origin. This is not the case for the majority of Japanized Western names such as Erika or Erina, as well as Maria, Juria (Julia), Arisa (Alisa), etc. These are obviously, to a Japanese-speaker, of non-native origin. Such names are almost always written with "phonetic" kanji, one for each syllable, with the sound being the primary consideration and the meaning secondary. The number of potential kanji spellings for Erika and Erina is very large and it would be difficult to pinpoint the one, two or three most common.
I can't help with the question of when Erika and Erina were introduced to Japan.
This message was edited 2/15/2008, 11:26 PM
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