For those who know Japanese

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 12:51

Hello,

I'm writing an assignment about a completely fictinal Japanese Town. Problem is its name. Of course I want it to be a Japanese name, in Roman letters that is, but I want the name to also mean something in Japanese. The story is about a man who travels through Japan in time of war to collect all those pure of heart and innocent and bring them to a certain place where they together build a town where they can live in peace. So naturally I want the town's name to mean something like "Land of the Pure and Innocent" or "Heaven on Earth" or something in that matter. It has to sound nice as well.

So could anyone please, please help me?

I would be very grateful

ephesus · Post by **ephesus** » Aug 15th, '07, 12:56

Ahh yes, you're looking for:

アメリカ = amerika

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:00

No, not America!

Unless amerika's actually a Japanese word with a certain meaning.
Ah no, but it just sounds too weird, reminds me too much of the US ^^

Pandemonium · Post by **Pandemonium** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:05

How about you take a name of an existing prefecture and make it sound profound?

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:20

It's a nice idea, but you see, in the story the new citizens will name their town themselves and its name will have to be like a symbol.

ephesus · Post by **ephesus** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:22

It's going to be really really hard to find a japanese name that has a "cool" meaning in romaji because if you can't see the kanji, you have no idea what the name means. For example if you said something like 復魂福市 fukukonfukushi
fuku=rebirth/second, kon=soul, fuku=happiness. but you can't tell which fuku means what in romaji (if that makes any sense)

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:31

Ah okay, I'm beginning to understand. See, I have absolutely no Japanese speaking or reading skills as you may have already noticed ^^ But is it really technically impossible? How about if we only take one word, like, pureness or goodness or freedom or something like that? And is there absolutely no way to put "land of" or "town of" in front of such a word?

Osca Style · Post by **Osca Style** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:37

ZA RANDO OVU ZA INNOSENTSU PIIPORU

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:42

Well, you know, I'm really not trying to be very difficult here. So please excuse me.

But I think it's just a little bit too long to be a town's name and what does it mean?

ephesus · Post by **ephesus** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:42

haha, Osca.

Well.. "of" isn't going to be in a name. So instead of land of happiness, it's going to say "happiness land"

福地市 fukuchi-shi (happiness land city, which is actually already a city in aomori according to google.)
so maybe "new happiness land" 新福地 (shin-fukuchi)

heh

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 13:50

Yeah

that's what I'm talking about! Very nice!
Though the city's supposed to be really old, so maybe Fukuchi-shi would be better, although that's already existant ^^ Eh.. how about Peace Land, Pure(ness) Land, Goodness Land or Free(dom) land?

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 15th, '07, 15:30

Another question, hope you don't mind me asking. But I figured the main character should be named "Hana Kiri". It just popped into my mind and I think it sounds good, but is it by any chance possible for Japanese person to be called Hana Kiri? I know Hana is normal Japanese name, but I'm not sure about the surname.

apartofmylife · Post by **apartofmylife** » Aug 16th, '07, 01:50

How interesting assignment!
"Hana Kiri" is possible, but Kiri is not a common Japanese surname. To me, Kiri sounds more like first name. Still I think it is ok if you name the main charactor Hana Kiri because she is in a fictional town

Also there might be a person whose surname is Kiri in Japan. I don't know! There are so unique names in Japan

Hana is a cute name

motao · Post by **motao** » Aug 16th, '07, 02:10

Noale wrote:Yeah that's what I'm talking about! Very nice!
Though the city's supposed to be really old, so maybe Fukuchi-shi would be better, although that's already existant ^^ Eh.. how about Peace Land, Pure(ness) Land, Goodness Land or Free(dom) land?

Peace is 平和、平穏
Pure(ness) is 純粋、清い
Goodness is 善良、親切、寛大
Free(dom) is 自由

How about combining the above characters? For example, 純和町 ("町" means a town/towns).

motao · Post by **motao** » Aug 16th, '07, 02:21

Noale wrote:Another question, hope you don't mind me asking. But I figured the main character should be named "Hana Kiri". It just popped into my mind and I think it sounds good, but is it by any chance possible for Japanese person to be called Hana Kiri? I know Hana is normal Japanese name, but I'm not sure about the surname.

I don't think "Hana Kiri" sounds Japanese. I assume "Hana" is a family name and "kiri" is a personal name. "Hana" can be used as a woman's personal name (sounds old-fashioned, though), but it can't be a family name. In general, "Kiri" is not used as a family name or a personal name.

sephy_sama · Post by **sephy_sama** » Aug 16th, '07, 02:34

I'm not sure I would use "Hana Kiri" as a name. Just in terms of simple or fairly common words, Hana can mean flower, but the first thing that comes to mind for me when I hear kiri is "harakiri" or committing suicide (seppuku) where I believe kiri can mean to cut.　　So　I personally wouldn't use that as a name.

As a side note,　Japanese names, like Chinese and Korean names use the format of last name first then first name.

apartofmylife · Post by **apartofmylife** » Aug 16th, '07, 03:30

oh..seems "Hana Kiri" is not so populare here...
Why did Kiri pop into your mind??? Did other names pop into your mind too?
If you have other choices, I want to hear them. Then we can compare.

If Kiri is first name it sonds kinda cute. There is a comedian whose name is Kiri Isono.
A girl whose first name is Kiri is in a drama, Virginroad.
Kiri-comic(an illustrator and graphicdesiner) draws very cute charactors.
These are the first thing that popped into my mind. Kiri means, cut(切り）, paulownia（桐） , mist（霧）, fog（霧）.
Kiriko is kinda common first name. (We use various Kanji for the name)

If you want to use Kiri for surname at any cost, I have a suggestion.
What if you add it to one more Kanji?
桐谷(Kiritani....just like Syuuji Kiritani in Nobuta wo puroduce) or
桐山(Kiriyama)or　桐川(Kirikawa) or 桐田（Kirita) etc.
(I used 桐　just because for surname it is the most common kanji of the three, 切,桐,霧.(There are more kanji for Kiri though) ）
These names sound a lot more like surname

All in all, it is up to you!

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 16th, '07, 08:29

Oh I'd like to thank you all for commenting and helping me

That's a very nice thing to do and I need this help as I'm a little clueless when it comes to the Japanese language! For one thing, I had no idea that the surname comes before the first name.

My first intention was to name the character Hana by first name and Kiri by surname. I don't know how that got into my mind, but it just did ^^ Now, however, I think I'll look for a different surname. I wouldn't want people to think of cutting when they hear her name

Now sceeming through the posts, I see that I like Kirita! Hana Kirita! I think that's going to be her name.

And Motao, thank you for those characters

Might you also know how to write them in roman letters?

Pandemonium · Post by **Pandemonium** » Aug 16th, '07, 10:41

mmm, just take existing drama names and mix them together.
you don't have to do it the hard way and synthesise new names from scratch.

motao · Post by **motao** » Aug 16th, '07, 12:43

Noale wrote:And Motao, thank you for those characters Might you also know how to write them in roman letters?

OOps. Sorry. I forgot to write them in Romaji (roman letters), too.

Peace is 平和(heiwa)、平穏(heion)
Pure(ness) is 純粋(junsui)、清い(kiyoi)
Goodness is 善良(zenryou)、親切(shinsetu)、寛大(kandai)
Free(dom) is 自由(jiyuu)

"Kirita Hana" would sound like Japanese (this name is very, very, very rare, though ).

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:02

Yes, come to think of, using existing drama names would've been a much easier way, but for some reason I just had that name inside my head and I wondered if it could actually be a normal Japanese name that I could use.

I'm still not entirely sure about the name, as it may be a little too rare, but thanks a lot for all the Romaji. I'll definately manage to work something out with that.

But just one more thing, should I really say Kirita Hana in my story, instead of Hana Kirita? Because it will all be in English, and English speaking people will read it. How, for example, do they do that with Japanese people in, say, American movies? Don't they just change it and turn the names around to make it easier?

Pandemonium · Post by **Pandemonium** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:04

You could... put a disclaimer, claiming that it sounds more authentic than if not.

Guderian · Post by **Guderian** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:25

How about 清安市(Seian City)? 清(sei) means "purity", and 安(an) means "peace". Of course, 市(shi) is "City". 清和市(Seiwa City) is also OK. 和(wa) means "peace", too.

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:34

Guderian wrote:How about 清安市(Seian City)? 清(sei) means "purity", and 安(an) means "peace". Of course, 市(shi) is "City". 清和市(Seiwa City) is also OK. 和(wa) means "peace", too.

Love it! Seian City sounds brilliant. Thank you oh great one

motao · Post by **motao** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:34

Noale wrote:But just one more thing, should I really say Kirita Hana in my story, instead of Hana Kirita? Because it will all be in English, and English speaking people will read it. How, for example, do they do that with Japanese people in, say, American movies? Don't they just change it and turn the names around to make it easier?

It has been discussed for more than 100 years in Japan. Decision is on you. Why don't you to have herself explain the name order in the Japanese language in conversations between other characters and herself.

Names of English-speaking-people are in the original order in movies, novels, etc. in Japan. We know their personal names come first.

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 16th, '07, 13:37

Thanks, at least this way I know that it's not "wrong" if I use the order in which the personal name comes first

And hmm, that conversation would probably be a good idea.

gotons · Post by **gotons** » Aug 23rd, '07, 20:06

What about Imazato? 今里

means roughly "Hometown of Now"...

Noale · Post by **Noale** » Aug 24th, '07, 11:11

I like the sound of it, very nicely found.
But I already decided to use the name Seian City

And the main character will be called Hana Kishi, I found that surname a couple of days ago and I think it's perfect.
Thanks to everyone for helping me, I think it's gonna be one heck of a story

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