Yamada Tarō (山田太郎), a typical or stereotype Japanese name (male), equivalent to ''John Smith'' in English. ''Jane Smith'' would be Yamada Hanako (山田花子).
in modern times usually consist of a
family name (surname), followed by a
given name. This is common in countries that have long been part of the
Chinese cultural sphere, including among the
Chinese,
Korean and
Vietnamese cultures. There is no distinction made between "middle names" and given names as there is in some western societies. Japanese names are usually written in
kanji, which are
Chinese characters in Japanese pronunciation. The ''kanji'' for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations.
Common family names in
Japan include
Satō (佐藤) (most common),
Suzuki (鈴木) (second most common),
Takahashi (高橋) (third most common), and
Katō (加藤) (tenth most common).
[1] According to estimates, there are as many as 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan. Surnames occur with varying frequency in different regions; for example, the names Chinen (知念), Higa (比嘉), and Shimabukuro (島袋) are common in
Okinawa but not in other parts of Japan. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the rural landscape; for example,
Ishikawa (石川) means "stone river,"
Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the mountain," and
Inoue (井上) means "above the well."
Given names are much more diverse in
pronunciation and character usage. Male names often end in ''-rō'' (郎 "son", but also 朗 "clear, bright") or ''-ta'' (太 "great, thick"), or contain ''ichi'' (一 "first [son]"), ''kazu'' (also written with 一 "first [son]", along with several other possible characters), ''ji'' (二 "second [son]" or 次 "next"), or ''dai'' (大 "great, large") while female names often end in ''-ko'' (子 "child") or ''-mi'' (美 "beauty"). (Since 1980, the popularity of female names ending in ''-ko'' has dramatically fallen for new baby names and some women drop the ''-ko'' upon adulthood.) Other popular endings for female names include ''-ka'' (香 "scent, perfume" or 花 / 華 "flower") and ''-na'' (奈, or 菜, meaning greens).
Structure
All
Japanese people have one surname and one given name with no middle name, except for the
Japanese imperial family, whose members bear no surname. The given name in Japanese is called the "name" (名前 ''namae'') or "lower name" (下の名前 ''shita no namae''). The surname is called ''myōji'' (苗字 or 名字), ''uji'' (氏) or ''sei'' (姓). In Japanese, the family name precedes the given name.
Historically, ''myōji'', ''uji'' and ''sei'' had different meanings. ''Sei'' was originally the
matrilineal surname. Later it became granted only by the emperor. There were relatively few ''sei'', and most of the medieval noble clans trace their lineage either directly to these ''sei'' or to the courtiers of these ''sei''. ''Uji'' was first used to designate
patrilineal descent, but later merged with ''myōji'' around the same time ''sei'' lost its matrilineal significance. ''Myōji'' was, simply, what a family chooses to call itself, as opposed to the ''sei'' granted by the emperor. While it was passed on patrilineally, one had a certain degree of freedom in changing one's ''myōji''.
There are a few names that can be used as either surnames or given names (for example Kaneko 金子, or Masuko 益子). In addition, to those familiar with Japanese names, which name is the surname and which is the given name is usually apparent, no matter which order the names are presented in. This thus makes it unlikely that the two names will be confused, for example when writing in English using the order family name, given name.
Characters
Japanese names are usually written in
kanji (Chinese characters), although some names use
hiragana or even
katakana, or a mixture of kanji and
kana. While most "traditional" names use
kun'yomi (native Japanese) kanji readings, a large number of given names and surnames use
on'yomi (Chinese-based) kanji readings as well. Many others use readings which are only used in names (
nanori), such as the female name Nozomi (希). The majority of surnames comprise one, two or three kanji characters. There are also a small number of four or five kanji surnames, such as Teshigawara (勅使河原) and (久夛良木) as in
Ken Kutaragi, Kadenokoji(勘解由小路), but these are extremely rare.
As mentioned above, female given names often end in the syllable ''ko'', written with the kanji meaning "child" (子). This was much more common up to about the 1980s, but the practice does continue today. Male names occasionally end with the syllable ''ko'', but very rarely using the kanji 子 (most often, if a male name ends in ''ko'', it ends in ''hiko'', using the kanji 彦). Common male name endings are -''shi'' and -''o''; names ending with -''shi'' are often adjectives, e.g., ''Atsushi'' which might mean, for example, "(to be) faithful." In the past (before
World War II), names written with katakana were common for women, but this trend seems to have lost favour. Hiragana names for women are not unusual. Kana names for boys, particularly those written in hiragana, have historically been very rare. This may be in part because the hiragana script is seen as feminine; in medieval Japan, women generally were not taught kanji and wrote exclusively in hiragana.
Names, like other Japanese words, cannot begin with the syllable ''n'' (ん, ン). Some names end in ''n'': the male names Ken, Shin, and Jun are examples. The syllable ''n'' should not be confused with the sound "n," which names ''can'' begin with (provided the "n" sound is paired with a vowel); for example, the female name Naoko (尚子) or the male Naoya (直哉).
One large category of family names can be categorized as "''-tō''" names. The kanji 藤, meaning ''
wisteria'', has the on'yomi ''tō'' (or, with
rendaku, ''dō''). Many Japanese people have surnames that include this kanji as the second character. This is because the
Fujiwara clan (藤原家) gave their
samurai surnames ending with the first character of their name, to denote their status in an era when commoners were not allowed surnames. Examples include
Atō,
Andō,
Itō (although a different final kanji is also common),
Udō,
Etō,
Endō,
Gotō,
Jitō,
Katō,
Kitō,
Kudō,
Kondō,
Saitō,
Satō,
Shindō,
Sudō,
Naitō,
Bitō, and
Mutō. As already noted, some of the most common family names are in this list.
Difficulty of reading names
A name written in kanji may have more than one common pronunciation, only one of which is correct for a given individual. For example, the surname written in kanji as 東海林 may be read either ''Tōkairin'' or ''Shōji''. Conversely, any one name may have several possible written forms, and again, only one will be correct for a given individual. The character 一 when used as a male given name may be used as the written form for "Hajime," "Hitoshi," "Ichi- / -ichi" "Kazu- / -kazu," and many others. The name "Hajime" may be written with any of the following: 始, 治, 初, 一, 元, 肇, 創, 甫, 基, 哉, 啓, 春, 本, 源, 東, 大, 孟, or 祝. This many-to-many correspondence between names and the ways they are written is much more common with male given names than with surnames or female given names, but can be observed in all these categories. This can make the
collation,
pronunciation, and
romanization of a Japanese name a very difficult problem. For this reason, business cards often include the pronunciation of the name as
furigana, and forms and documents always have spaces to write the reading of the name in kana (usually katakana). At restaurants in Japan it is common to wait to be seated by writing one's name on a list and waiting to be called, and at the top of the list there is usually a request to write one's name in katakana, rather than kanji.
A few Japanese names, particularly family names, include old-fashioned versions of characters. For example the very common character ''shima'', island, may be written as 嶋 or 嶌 instead of the usual 島. Some names also feature very uncommon
kanji, or even kanji which no longer exist in modern Japanese. Japanese people who have such names are likely to compromise by substituting similar or simplified characters.
An example of such a name is
Saitō. There are two common kanji for ''sai'' here. The two ''sai'' characters have different meanings: 斉 means "together" or "parallel", but 斎 means "to purify". These names can also exist written in old-fashioned characters, as 齊藤 and 齋藤 respectively.
Family names are sometimes written with idiosyncratic characters, called
ateji, that relate indirectly to the name as spoken. For example, 四月一日 would normally be read as ''shigatsu tsuitachi'' ("April 1st"), but as a family name it is read ''watanuki'' ("unpadded clothes"), because April 1st is the traditional date to switch from winter to summer clothes.
Most Japanese people and agencies have adopted customs to deal with these issues.
Address books, for instance, often contain
furigana or
ruby characters to clarify the pronunciation of the name. Japanese nationals are also required to give a
romanized name for their
passport. The recent use of Japanese media using katakana when referring to Japanese celebrities who have gained international fame has started a fad among young
socialites attempting to invoke a cosmopolitan flair who use katakana names as a badge of honor. All of these complications are also found in
Japanese place names.
Not all names are complicated. Some common names are summarized by the phrase ''tanakamura'' ("the village in the midst of the fields"): the three kanjis: 田 (''ta'', rice field), 中 (''naka'', middle) and 村 (''mura'', village), together in any pair, form a simple, reasonably common surname:
Tanaka,
Nakamura,
Murata,
Nakata(Nakada),
Muranaka,
Tamura.
Despite these difficulties, there are enough patterns and recurring names that most native Japanese will be able to read virtually all family names they encounter and the majority of personal names.
Regulations
Kanji names in Japan are governed by the government's rules on kanji use. There are currently (
as of Oct 2004) 2,232 "name kanji" (the
jinmeiyō kanji) used in personal names, and the government plans to increase this list by 578 kanji in the near future. This would be the largest increase since
World War II. Only kanji which appear on the official list may be used in given names. This is to ensure that names can be written and read by those literate in Japanese. Rules also govern names considered to be inappropriate; for example, in
1993 two parents who tried to name their child Akuma, which literally means the devil, were prohibited from doing so.
[2]
Though there are regulations on the naming of children many old characters can still be found in adults' names. Because these restrictions have been confusing to say the least, many recent changes have been made to increase rather than to decrease the number of kanji allowed for use in names. Moreover, the Sapporo High Court held that it was unlawful for the government to deny registration of a child's name because it contained a kanji character that was relatively common but not included in the official list of name characters compiled by the Ministry of Justice. Subsequently, the Japanese government promulgated plans to increase the number of "permitted" kanji.
The use of a space in given names (to separate first and middle names) is not allowed, because technically, a space is not an allowed character.
The plan to increase the number of name kanji has been controversial, largely because Chinese characters meaning "cancer"(癌 gan), "hemorrhoids"(痔 ji), "corpse"(骸 gai), and "excrement"(糞 fun / kuso), as well as those used in
jukugo (words which are compounds of two or more kanji) meaning "curse"(呪 ju / noro(i)), "prostitute"(娼 shō), and "rape"(姦 kan), are among the proposed additions to the list. This is because no measures were taken to determine the appropriateness of the kanji proposed. The government will seek input from the public before approving the list.
Customs
In ancient times, people in Japan were considered the property of the Emperor and their surname reflected the role in the government they served. An example is
Ōtomo (おおとも 'great attendant, companion'). Names would also be given in the recognition of a great achievement and contribution.
Until the
Meiji restoration, Japanese common people (people other than
kuge and
samurai) had no surnames, and when necessary, used a substitute such as the name of their birthplace. For example, Ichirō born in Asahi mura (Asahi village) in the province of
Musashi would say "Ichirō from Asahi-mura of Musashi". Merchants were named after their brands (for example, Denbei, the owner of Sagamiya, would be Sagamiya Denbei), and farmers were named after their fathers (for example, Isuke, whose father was Genbei, would be "Isuke, son of Genbei"). After the Meiji restoration, the government ordered all commoners to assume surnames in addition to their given names: many people adopted historical names, while others simply made names up or had a local sage make up a surname. This explains, in part, the large number of surnames in Japan, as well as their great diversity of spellings and pronunciations.
During the period when typical parents had several children, it was a common practice to name sons by numbers suffixed with ''rō'' (郎, "son"). The first son would be known as "Ichirō", the second as "Jirō", and so on. Girls were often named with ''ko'' (子, "child") at the end of the given name; this should not be confused with the less common male suffix ''hiko'' (彦). Both practices have become less common, although many children still have names along these lines.
Speaking to and of others
Main articles: Japanese titles,
Japanese pronouns
The way in which a name is used in conversation depends on the circumstances and the speaker's relationships with the listener and the bearer of the name. Typically the family name is used, with given names largely restricted to informal situations and cases where the speaker is older than, superior to, or very familiar with the named individual. When addressing someone, or referring to a member of one's
out-group, a title such as さん ''-san'' is typically added.
Japanese people avoid often referring to their seniors or superiors by name at all, using just a title: within a family this might be a kinship relation such as お母さん ''okāsan'' ("mother"), in a school it could be 先生 ''sensei'' ("teacher"), while a company president would be addressed as 社長 ''shachō'' ("company president").
On the other hand, pronominals meaning "you" ( あなた ''anata'', きみ ''kimi'', お前 ''omae'' ) are used rather little in Japanese. Using such words sometimes sounds disrespectful, and people will commonly address each other by name, title and honorific even in face-to-face conversations.
Calling someone's name without any title or honorific is called ''yobisute'' (呼び捨て), and may be considered rude even in the most informal and friendly occasions. This faux pas, however, is readily excused for foreigners.
Nicknames
Main articles: Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
The common Japanese practice of forming abbreviations by concatenating the first two
morae of two words is sometimes applied to names (usually those of celebrities). For example, , a famous Japanese actor and singer, becomes . This is sometimes applied even to non-Japanese celebrities:
Brad Pitt, whose full name in Japanese is is commonly known as , and
Jimi Hendrix is abbreviated as . Some
Japanese celebrities have also taken names combining kanji and katakana, such as
Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano),
Marcy (Masashi Tashiro),
Martin (Masayuki Suzuki).
Corresponding to any given name there are one or more
hypocoristics, affectionate nicknames. These are formed by adding the suffix -chan ちゃん to a stem. There are two types of stem. One consists of the full given name. Examples of this type are ''Tarō-chan'' from ''Tarō'', ''Kimiko-chan'' from ''Kimiko'', and ''Yasunari-chan'' from ''Yasunari''. The other type of stem is a modified stem derived from the full given name. Examples of such names are: ''Taro-chan'' from ''Tarō'', ''Kii-chan'' from ''Kimiko'', and ''Yā-chan'' from ''Yasunari''. Hypochoristics with modified stems are more intimate than those based on the full given name.
Hypocoristics with modified stems are derived by adding -chan to a stem consisting of an integral number, usually one but occasionally two, of
feet, where a foot consists of two
moras. A mora 音節 is the unit of which a light syllable contains one and a heavy syllable two. For example, the stems that may be derived from ''Tarō'' are /taro/, consisting of two light syllables, and /taa/, consisting of a single syllable with a long vowel, resulting in ''Taro-chan'' and ''Tā-chan''. The stems that may be derived from ''Hanako'' are /hana/, with two light syllables, /han/, with one syllable closed by a consonant, and /haa/, with one syllable with a long vowel, resulting in ''Hanachan'', ''Hanchan'', and ''Hāchan''. The segmental content is usually a left substring of that of the given name. However, in some cases it is obtained by other means, including the use of another reading of the Chinese characters used to write the name. For example, a girl named ''Keiko'' may be called ''Meguchan'' because the character used to write the /kei/ of ''Keiko'', 恵, can also be read /megu/.
In general, one may use a hypochoristic only if he or she has known the person since he or she was a child. Thus, they may be used for children or for adults whom one has known since they were children.
Names from other ethnic groups in Japan
Many ethnic minorities, mostly Korean and Chinese, living in Japan adopt Japanese names. The roots of this custom go back to the colonial-era policy of
sōshi-kaimei, which in theory permitted and in practise compelled many Koreans to change their names to Japanese names. Nowadays, ethnic minorities take on Japanese names, sometimes called ''pass names'', to ease communication and, more importantly, to avoid
discrimination. A few of them (e.g.,
Chang Woo Han, founder and chairman of
Maruhan Corp.) still keep their native names.
Japanese citizenship requires adopting a Japanese name. In recent decades, the government has allowed individuals to simply adopt katakana versions of their native names when applying for citizenship: Parliament member "
Tsurunen Marutei" (ツルネン マルテイ), originally Martti Turunen, is a famous example. Others transliterate their names into phonetically similar kanji compounds, such as immigrant's-rights activist
David Aldwinckle, who became "Arudou Debito" (有道出人). Still others have abandoned their native names entirely in favor of traditional Japanese names, such as
Lafcadio Hearn, who used the name "Koizumi Yakumo" (小泉 八雲). At the time, to gain Japanese citizenship, it was necessary to be adopted by a Japanese family (in Hearn's case, it was his wife's family) and take their name.
Ethnic Chinese and Koreans in Japan sometimes have to change the characters in their names to apply for citizenship, because of the restrictions on which kanji can be used.
Individuals born overseas with Western given names and Japanese surnames are usually given a katakana name in Western order when referred to in Japanese.
Eric Shinseki, for instance, is referred to as エリック シンセキ (Erikku Shinseki).
There is a restriction (
as of 2001) on the use of the "v" character in a name unless at least one of the parent is of foreign origin. The closest corresponding katakana is ヴ, which can be romanized as v or b. This affects issuing of Japanese
passports or other documentation where a romaji representation of the name is given; the letter v is replaced with b. This affects names such as Kevin (ケヴィン), which would be written as Kebin.
Imperial names
The
Japanese emperor and his families have no surname for historical reasons, only a given name such as
Hirohito (裕仁), which is rarely used in Japan: Japanese prefer to say "the Emperor" or "the Crown Prince", out of respect and as a measure of politeness.
When children are born into the Imperial family, they are given a standard given name, as well as a special title. For instance, title of Akihito (current Emperor, Tsugu-no-miya Akihito (継宮明仁)) is Tsugu-no-miya(継宮 "Prince Tsugu"), and was referred to as "Prince Tsugu" during his childhood. This title is generally used until the individual becomes heir to the throne or inherits one of the historical princely family names (常陸宮 ''Hitachi-no-miya'', 三笠宮 ''Mikasa-no-miya'', 秋篠宮 ''Akishino-no-miya'', etc.).
Many members of the extended Imperial family became commoners after
World War II, and adopted their Imperial surnames as regular surnames. An example is
Asaka Yasuhiko.
Historical names
The current structure (''family name'' + ''given name'') did not materialize until the
1870s when the government made the new family registration system.
In feudal Japan, names reflected a person's social status. They also reflect a person's affiliation to Buddhist, Shintō, feudatory-military, Confucian-scholarly, mercantile, peasant, slave and imperial orders.
Before feudal times,
Japanese clan names figured prominently in history: names with ''no'' fall into this category. (''No'' means ''of'', although the association is in the opposite order in Japanese, and is not generally explicitly written in this style of name.) Thus,
Minamoto no Yoritomo (源 頼朝) was Yoritomo (頼朝) of the
Minamoto (源) clan.
Fujiwara no Kamatari (藤原 鎌足),
Ki no Tsurayuki (紀 貫之), and
Taira no Kiyomori (平 清盛) are additional examples.
Historically, a Japanese person could maintain several names to use in different occasions. Among those that were common are ''Azana'', ''Imina'' or ''Okurina'' (either translate to
posthumous name) and ''Gō'' (号) (a pen name, ''Haigō'' or ''Haimei'' for Haiku poet, ''Kagō'' for
Waka poet). It was not uncommon for one to have more than 10 names.
[3] Imina is the same as one's
real name and the real name would be called ''Imina'' posthumously. It is called so because after one's death, he would be referred by his ''Okurina'' while the pronunciation of ''Imina'' is being avoided. ''Azana'' (字), which is given at
Genpuku (元服), is used by others and one himself uses his real name to refer to him. ''Gō'' is commonly named after places or houses; e.g., Basho, as in the Haiku poet
Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉), is named after his house, ''Basho-an'' (芭蕉庵).
In the
late shogunate period, many anti-government activists used several false names to hide their activities from the
shogunate. Examples are Saitani Umetarō (才谷 梅太郎) for
Sakamoto Ryōma (坂本 龍馬), Niibori Matsusuke (新堀 松輔) for
Kido Takayoshi (木戸 孝允) and Tani Umenosuke (谷 梅之助) for
Takasugi Shinsaku (高杉 晋作). The famous writer
Kyokutei Bakin (曲亭 馬琴) is known to have had as many as 33 names.
Professional names
Actors and
actresses in
Western and Japanese
dramatic forms,
comedians,
sumo wrestlers, and practitioners of traditional
crafts often use professional names.
Kabuki actors take one of the traditional surnames such as Nakamura (中村), Bandō or Onoe. Many stage names of
television and
film actors and actresses are unremarkable, being just like ordinary Japanese personal names, but a few are tongue-in-cheek. For example,
Kamatari Fujiwara (藤原 釜足) chose the name of the aforementioned founder of the
Fujiwara family, while
Hino Yōjin (日野 陽仁)'s name sounds like ''be careful with fire'' (although written differently). Many stand-up comics like the duo
Beat Takeshi and
Beat Kiyoshi choose a Western name for the act, and use their own (or stage) given names. Writers also tend to be clever about their names, for example
Edogawa Ranpo which is designed to sound like "
Edgar Allan Poe".
Sumo wrestlers take wrestling names called ''
shikona'' (醜名 or 四股名). While a shikona can be the wrestler's own surname, most upper-division rikishi have a shikona different from their surname. A typical shikona consists of one, two or three kanji. Often, part of the name comes from the wrestler's master, a place name (such as the name of a
province, a
river, or a
sea), the name of a weapon, an item identified with Japanese tradition (like a
koto or
nishiki), or a term indicating superiority. Often, ''waka'' indicates a wrestler whose father was also in sumo; in this case, the meaning is ''junior''. Wrestlers can change their shikona, as Takahanada did when he became Takanohana (貴ノ花) and then
Takanohana (貴乃花). Another notable example is the wrestler
Sentoryu, which means ''fighting war dragon'' but is also homophonous with
St. Louis, his city of origin.
Geisha and practitioners of traditional crafts and arts such as
pottery, the
tea ceremony,
calligraphy,
irezumi (tattooing) and
ikebana (flower arranging) often take professional names. In many cases, these come from the master under whom they studied.
Japanese names in English
As is the case for other transliterations, writing Japanese names in English poses several issues, mainly
romanization and
name order issues.
As this differs from the ordering used in many other parts of the world, some, particularly academics, adopt the convention of writing the family name in upper case when the name is romanized: for example, Takuya MURATA or MURATA Takuya. Artists whose works are distributed in English outside of Japan often opt for a Western ordering on the English editions of their works: e.g.,
Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一 ''Sakamoto Ryūichi''),
Shunji Iwai (岩井 俊二 ''Iwai Shunji''), and
Haruki Murakami (村上 春樹 ''Murakami Haruki''). Japanese living overseas, such as
Yoko Ono (小野 洋子 ''Ono Yōko'') and
Ichiro Suzuki (鈴木 一朗 ''Suzuki Ichirō''), usually use the Western order as well.
Most foreign scholars of Japanese history and literature use the Japanese order, so historical and literary figures are usually referred to in that order: e.g.,
Murasaki Shikibu (紫 式部) and
Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川 家康). However, English publications tend to prefer the Western order when discussing contemporary individuals, especially
politicians,
businessmen and
athletes. In contrast, when written in kanji characters, the order of Japanese names is never reversed.
The following English publications tend to use the western order to refer to Japanese figures:
★
Newspapers: see
List of newspapers in Japan
★ Credits in movies
★ Characters in
comics (if the names of the characters have not been completely changed)
★ Books concerning contemporary Japanese culture like
J-pop
★ Sports media
The following tend to keep the original Japanese order:
★ Scholastic articles
★ Books concerning historical Japanese activities like
Go and
Waka
Characters in translated Japanese
manga,
anime and
video games are special cases. They are sometimes given new Western names (as in ''
Pokémon'' for example), or they may keep their original Japanese names in either Japanese or Western name order. They may also have non-
Hepburn transliterations of their names, or even different transliterations between different editions or between manga, anime and/or video game versions (as in ''
Yu-Gi-Oh!'', for example).
See also
★
List of most popular family names
★
List of Japanese first names
★
Researching Japanese names
★
Chinese name
★
Korean name
★
Vietnamese name
★
Names in world cultures
★
Meishi
★
art-name
★
Chinese character tattoos
References
1. [1] (.XLS file).
2. [2]
Some materials taken from ''Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan'', article on "names"
Further reading
★ Koop, Albert J., Hogitaro Inada. ''Japanese Names and How to Read Them'' 2005 ISBN 0-7103-1102-8 Kegan Paul International Ltd.
★ O'Neill, P.G. ''Japanese Names'' 1972 ISBN 0-8348-0225-2 Weatherhill Inc.
★ Plutschow, Herbert. ''Japan's Name Culture'' 1995 ISBN 1-873410-42-5 Routledge/Curzon
★ Poser, William J. (1990) "Evidence for Foot Structure in Japanese," ''Language'' 66.1.78-105. (Describes hypochoristic formation and some other types of derived names.)
★ Throndardottir, Solveig. ''Name Construction in Medieval Japan'' 2004 ISBN 0-939329-02-6 Potboiler Press
★ Society of Writers, Editors and Translators. ''Japan Style Sheet'' 1998 ISBN 1-880656-30-2 Stone Bridge Press
External links
★
Japanese names section of
sci.lang.japan FAQ
★
Japanorama: Japanese Names
★
Japanese Given Names
★
Japanese Baby Names
★ Popular
Japanese baby names 1994 to 2003.
★
WWWJDIC online dictionary with over 400,000 Japanese names. (Tanaka
Sample)
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