How creative and artistic Japanese naming can be

Would you be surprised if I said Japanese people can actually “create” names when they name their children? That’s the most extraordinary thing about naming in Japanese. Today, I want to tell you about how creative, even artistic, you can be in creating a Japanese first name.

Aside from a few exceptions, giving names in the West is basically choosing among the names that already exist. But in Japan giving a name is a process much more complex, complicated and creative than in the West. In Japan you can create almost whatever first names you want, if you want to. This means that there are almost an infinite number of first names in Japan, and there are many Japanese people with a completely unique, one-and-only name.

Most Japanese people believe that a name can determine the personality of a child, and Japanese parents choose or create a name that reflects the qualities they desire for their child.

Japanese names can be written in kanji (ideographic symbols with meanings), hiragana (a set of alphabets) or katakana (another set of alphabets) or a combination of these characters. Let me give you an example of how creating a name with kanji works.

Choosing the sound (pronunciation)

The creative process of giving a name starts with choosing or creating the pronunciation.

You can choose among the sounds of names that already exist: “Takeshi” for a boy, for example; or you can create something completely new on your own. There are so many Japanese people who demonstrate their creativity and come up with highly original sound.

It’s quite common to encounter a very unique name that leave you with no idea if it’s a male name or a female name. (Japanese names can be divided into male and female ones but there are so many unisex names as well.)

The magic of kanji

Then you choose the kanji character(s) for the pronunciation. Even though the kanji which may be used for naming are regulated by the Japanese government, there are still many thousands of kanji to choose from. In the Japanese language, one kanji can symbolize a whole word, or it can work in combination with other kanji to form a word.

For example, the kanji for “Japan” is a combination of two kanji: one that means “Sun” comes first, followed by one that means “origin.” In the same way, a name can be represented by one kanji or by a combination of two or three kanji. For example, kanji for the “Takeshi” for the famous film director and actor Takeshi Kitano is symbolized by one kanji that represents the meanings such as “fierce, power, warrior, the art of battle.”

It’s so magical that each kanji symbolizes such deep meanings and concepts, and you can choose the kanji in accordance with what kind of qualities you desire for your child. And there are so many other possible kanji that you can use for the sound “Takeshi” and “Takeshi” can be symbolized by two kanji as well. So, even if the pronunciation is the same “Takeshi” there are countless possible versions with completely different meanings.

Or you can choose the kanji that symbolizes the desired qualities for your child first, and then choose the pronunciation. Each kanji can have some different pronunciations so you can choose the pronunciation you like among them, and the even more remarkable thing is that it’s allowed to creatively change the pronunciation of the kanji you chose in the way you want. Now, I hope you have some idea of how creative and artistic you can be in giving a Japanese first name!