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ArchivesRe: Is Yumeko a somewhat normal name in Japan?
in reply to a message by Amandine
No, long vowels count as two syllables--technically two "mora," which is a linguistic unit of time. A Japanese long vowel takes just twice as long to articulate as a short vowel, and it is perceived by Japanese speakers as two speech units.
The writing system also makes this very clear. Yoko with two morae would be written with two kana よこ; Yoko with long O (Youko) is written with three, ようこ. These aren't like what we call short vowels and long vowels in English (e.g. hat/hate). The quality of the vowel sound doesn't change in Japanese, it's just held longer.
Also, what looks like a single syllable ending with "n" is also two morae. For example, a word such as ringo (apple) is ri-n-go, りんご, three morae.
I can't comment on the usage of names over time, especially when it gets down to a "top 100" rather than just a top 10, as I don't have access to that information. It's also frustrating that lists of popular names often separate them out by kanji spelling, rather than grouping them by pronunciation. There are a zillion different ways to write most names in kanji.
The writing system also makes this very clear. Yoko with two morae would be written with two kana よこ; Yoko with long O (Youko) is written with three, ようこ. These aren't like what we call short vowels and long vowels in English (e.g. hat/hate). The quality of the vowel sound doesn't change in Japanese, it's just held longer.
Also, what looks like a single syllable ending with "n" is also two morae. For example, a word such as ringo (apple) is ri-n-go, りんご, three morae.
I can't comment on the usage of names over time, especially when it gets down to a "top 100" rather than just a top 10, as I don't have access to that information. It's also frustrating that lists of popular names often separate them out by kanji spelling, rather than grouping them by pronunciation. There are a zillion different ways to write most names in kanji.
This message was edited 6/17/2024, 8:29 PM
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