Naming Traditions Around The World : Japan

There are so many names around the world. Every name has unique meaning, including YOURS. In some country, parents give their child name because of tradition. Including Japan.

In Japan, there are some 'rules' to name their children. One of it is the children name should contained family's name. There are 3 common family's name in Japan, Satō (佐藤), Suzuki (鈴木), and Takahashi (高橋). This family name also can be used for surname and followed by first name. Why Japanese need surname? Because it's kinda rude to call someone by their first name, especially to stranger or someone that older than you.

In the past, Japanese have children name. A name that given at kids and changed when he/she's older. But this kind of name only given to a Noble, like a Samurai or a Shogun. Male names often end in -rō (郎 "son", but also 朗 "clear, bright"; e.g. "Ichirō") -ta (太 "great, thick"; e.g. "Kenta") or -o (男 / 雄 / 夫 "man"; e.g. "Teruo" or "Akio"), or contain ichi (一  "first [son]"; e.g. "Ken'ichi"), kazu (also written with 一 "first [son]", along with several other possible characters; e.g. "Kazuhiro"), ji (二  "second [son]" or 次 "next"; e.g. "Jirō"), or dai  (大 "great, large"; e.g. "Daiichi").

Female names often end in -ko (子 "child"; e.g. "Keiko") or -mi (美 "beauty"; e.g. "Yumi"). Other popular endings for female names include -ka  (香 "scent, perfume" or 花 "flower"; e.g. "Reika") and -na (奈, or 菜, meaning "greens" or "apple tree"; e.g. "Haruna").

The example of famous people is Sakata Kintoki. His child name is Kintaro.

Most of Japanese name have beautiful meaning, like Hikari/Hikaru which mean Light or Sora which mean Sky.

A little funfact : because there's 3 kind of word in Japan (Katakana, Hiragana, and Kanji) sometimes the name can pronounce differently in Kanji and Hiragana.

In Japanese Dub, an Anime character often called by their family name and followed by their first name, but in English Dub, an Anime character often called by their first name and followed by their family name.

That's for today post. Thanks for your attention :3