Finding good kanji for your name

[Coda Highland]

We have a thread for talking about how to say your name in Japanese, but many people want to find kanji for their name.

Choosing kanji for your name isn't something you should just leave to chance or to a machine. You should try to find kanji that has a meaning that you like while carrying a sound that's at least similar to your name, or you should try to find kanji that has the same meaning as your name. If you haven't spent the time to do this, you should always write your name in katakana and nothing else. It looks very, very bad for you if your name means something bad or absurd.

Usually you'll want to pick a name that's only one or two kanji. This isn't a strict rule, but basically all common Japanese names are written with one or two kanji. It's also becoming increasingly common for someone's first name to be written in hiragana with no specific kanji, especially for girls, although it's hard to say at this point if this is a fad or if it's going to last.

A useful tool in your search is ENAMDICT, which is an English dictionary of Japanese names similar to how EDICT is an English dictionary of Japanese words. There are several sites out there that will let you search ENAMDICT; I use Jeffrey's J<->E Dictionary Server, which you can find at http://www.gokanji.com/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/dict -- uncheck the "Words" box and check the "Names" box in order to search ENAMDICT, and I would recommend checking the "link kanji information" box so you can see what a name means.

If you've already chosen kanji for your name, feel free to share it here; if you would like some help choosing kanji, feel free to ask.  

[Coda Highland]

I've chosen the following kanji for my name: 光田高地, pronounced こうだ・たかち. It's an illustration of both ways of choosing kanji for the name.

I chose 光田 based on the sound: it can be pronounced the same as my nickname, "Coda." What makes it a good choice of kanji for a name is that it's a fairly common Japanese family name, although it's usually pronounced みつだ. (It means "field of light;" it's not particularly meaningful or impressive but it's not bad or absurd.)

I chose 高地 based on the meaning: it means "high ground" -- or, more appropriately, "high land." What makes it a good choice of kanji for a name is that it really is a boy's name in Japan.

You might notice that I switched the "first" and "last" names around -- that is, "Coda" became the family name and "Highland" became the given name. It's mostly a coincidence; I found names that matched my nickname, and it just so happened that they were backwards. I'm okay with this.  

[Shinkai-Brujeria]

Here are the kanji of my IRL name, it's Adriana Trevino, BTW:

衛--defense, protection　鋭-- sharp-edged, violent, pointy, (えい EI）

怒-- to be angry, offend　　（ど DO）

李--- plum 離 --to detach （り RI）

娃ーbeautiful　　　　　（あ A）

名--name 無---nothingness （な NA）


虎--tiger (とら TORA）

微--delicate, minute, insignificance (び BI）

悩--trouble, worry, in pain, distress, illness （の NO）

They fit fairly well because more or less, I am a sheltered person & I tend to worry about irrational things; although when I get provoked, I do get pretty feisty. scream


My alter-ego's name is too easy:

紅--Crimson, red (くれない）

明り--light, bright　（あかり）  

[Tsukumo12]

This is my name 紗仁香【しゃにか】 (shanika)  

[Coda Highland]

Kurenai_Akari

Here are the kanji of my IRL name, it's Adriana Trevino, BTW:

衛--defense, protection　鋭-- sharp-edged, violent, pointy, (えい EI）

怒-- to be angry, offend　　（ど DO）

李--- plum 離 --to detach （り RI）

娃ーbeautiful　　　　　（あ A）

名--name 無---nothingness （な NA）


虎--tiger (とら TORA）

微--delicate, minute, insignificance (び BI）

悩--trouble, worry, in pain, distress, illness （の NO）

They fit fairly well because more or less, I am a sheltered person & I tend to worry about irrational things; although when I get provoked, I do get pretty feisty. scream


My alter-ego's name is too easy:

紅--Crimson, red (くれない）

明り--light, bright　（あかり）

As a point of note, it's very unusual for a name to have more than three kanji in it; two is generally the limit.  

[Shinkai-Brujeria]

Coda Highland

Kurenai_Akari

Here are the kanji of my IRL name, it's Adriana Trevino, BTW:

衛--defense, protection　鋭-- sharp-edged, violent, pointy, (えい EI）

怒-- to be angry, offend　　（ど DO）

李--- plum 離 --to detach （り RI）

娃ーbeautiful　　　　　（あ A）

名--name 無---nothingness （な NA）


虎--tiger (とら TORA）

微--delicate, minute, insignificance (び BI）

悩--trouble, worry, in pain, distress, illness （の NO）

They fit fairly well because more or less, I am a sheltered person & I tend to worry about irrational things; although when I get provoked, I do get pretty feisty. scream


My alter-ego's name is too easy:

紅--Crimson, red (くれない）

明り--light, bright　（あかり）

As a point of note, it's very unusual for a name to have more than three kanji in it; two is generally the limit.

Well, I stripped everything down to the syllable. When I did the input for my name in kanji, there were no results. So I just did it by syllables. stare  

[Coda Highland]

Kurenai_Akari

Well, I stripped everything down to the syllable. When I did the input for my name in kanji, there were no results. So I just did it by syllables. stare

There's something of an art to it, and you have to be willing to change the sounds a little. For instance, I came up with 恵通窟 "edooriana" that means something along the lines of "cavern where blessings pass through." Not sure that's really a GREAT name (sounds more like a place than a person), but it's an example of the kinds of sound changes you can consider.

Edit: For what it's worth, though, you do have a perfectly good nickname in Japanese, which is completely acceptable for general-purpose use. I mean, Coda's not my real name, but I use it as my signature in Japanese.  

[theinstantboy]

Have you tried looking at a baby names website or a name etymology website to strip your name down to meanings?

If I look up the history of my name:

Medina: 1) Dweller at or near the market; one who had returned from the market 2) From the city of Medina in western Saudi Arabia, the second most holy city of Islam.

And since I'm Hispanic, I would go with the Spanish meaning, 'dweller at or near the market'. It could also mean something like 'median'.

From that I can either do something like 市場 which can be Ichiba, Shijou, or Ichijou, market and place, or something like 中場 Nakaba, center and place. Either one would work fine.

Shane comes from Sean, which comes from Shawn, which comes from John, which comes from Iohannes, from Ioannes, from Yochanen, which means 'Yahweh is gracious'. A little complicated to find a meaning for, so I went phonetic with that and came up with 詞宴 Shien, poetry and banquet. If I cared to spend more time on it, I'm sure I could come up with something.  

[Shinkai-Brujeria]

theinstantboy

Have you tried looking at a baby names website or a name etymology website to strip your name down to meanings?

If I look up the history of my name:

Medina: 1) Dweller at or near the market; one who had returned from the market 2) From the city of Medina in western Saudi Arabia, the second most holy city of Islam.

And since I'm Hispanic, I would go with the Spanish meaning, 'dweller at or near the market'. It could also mean something like 'median'.

From that I can either do something like 市場 which can be Ichiba, Shijou, or Ichijou, market and place, or something like 中場 Nakaba, center and place. Either one would work fine.

Shane comes from Sean, which comes from Shawn, which comes from John, which comes from Iohannes, from Ioannes, from Yochanen, which means 'Yahweh is gracious'. A little complicated to find a meaning for, so I went phonetic with that and came up with 詞宴 Shien, poetry and banquet. If I cared to spend more time on it, I'm sure I could come up with something.

Oooh, good idea! Lemme see.....

Hm. My IRL name doesn't have much of a meaning. It just means the one from Hadrianus (a town in Northern Italy). Um, lets see...

伊 (i) Italian, Italy
墨西 (meki) Mexican, Mexico [that's my ethnicity]

So probably Iimeki, would be my name or Imeko (伊墨子 [child of Italy/Mexico). I dunno... I'll just stick with Kurenai to save us the trouble.  

[theinstantboy]

That's a way you could go. I should point out that girls' names ending in 'ko' are a little dated at this point...kind of like 'Gretchen'. I know a girl named Gretchen, but it's uncommon nowadays. You could try shortening it too, if you wanted. There are probably a million ways to render the name 'Ana' in kanji, for example. You could also do Ria.

As for your surname, Trevino means:

"The name describes somebody who lived at house on a boundary, or a place where boundaries met. These boundaries, which originally would have been walls, single marker stones or even a tree, would have designated either adjoining farms, or later in most cases, the civic boundaries between regions or towns and villages."

Incidentally, it's also a surname of Castillian nobility.

So you could look up a word for 'boundary' and take a kanji, then search for surnames containing that kanji. For example, I was quickly able to find the name 界田 Kaita, literally the boundary of a field, or 界外 Kaige, an outside boundary.  

[Eijay]

Hmmm... This looks interesting. My name is Emily Feeley.
I know that Emily means "rival" but I have no idea about my last name.
I'll have to look into this in more depth...  

[Shinkai-Brujeria]

Eijay

Hmmm... This looks interesting. My name is Emily Feeley.
I know that Emily means "rival" but I have no idea about my last name.
I'll have to look into this in more depth...

Well, here's what I got:

The Japanese word for "rival" is "teki" or "soukoku" whcih means, "to be in a rivalry".

As for your last name... it could be "omou" "to feel, emotion, thoughts, etc."

But I could be wrong.... stare  

[Coda Highland]

Kurenai_Akari

Eijay

Hmmm... This looks interesting. My name is Emily Feeley.
I know that Emily means "rival" but I have no idea about my last name.
I'll have to look into this in more depth...

Well, here's what I got:

The Japanese word for "rival" is "teki" or "soukoku" whcih means, "to be in a rivalry".

As for your last name... it could be "omou" "to feel, emotion, thoughts, etc."

But I could be wrong.... stare

I had a friend who came up with the name "Kyouteki" (same "teki" here, plus "strong") and when a native Japanese person saw it she pretty much freaked out -- apparently it's a "that's the kind of person that will steal your children" kind of name.

If I may provide some suggestions:
競子【けいこ】Keiko
競子【きょうこ】Kyouko
競慧【せりえ】Serie
These are all girl's names that include the kanji 競 meaning "competition," which is a friendlier sort of "rival." (Serie adds on the character for "wise" as well.)

For surnames I'm looking at the kanji 感, meaning "emotion; feeling; sensation":
感見【かんみ】Kanmi (means "seeing emotions" or something)
感応【かんのう】 Kannou (means "OK feeling" or something, it's positive)  

[yanderella]

Sorry, I know this is an oldish thread..
My name's Mary, and an exchange student that lived with me picked these kanji for me: 芽亜梨. They're relatively common for girls' names, but the literal breakdown is:
芽　め sprout
亜　あ　asia
梨 り　nashi (Japanese pear)

I think my name literally means "sea of bitterness", so...
苦海　（くがい）?　Perhaps this can be read "くみ", and be more like a girl's name?
My name also means "wished for child", so 望美　OR　望未　（のぞみ）　OR　望子（もちこ）　ETC.
There are other possible origins as well, but I'll stop here.
As a note, my nickname online is typically "Namuko" or 名無子.  

[Coda Highland]

yanderella

Sorry, I know this is an oldish thread..
My name's Mary, and an exchange student that lived with me picked these kanji for me: 芽亜梨. They're relatively common for girls' names, but the literal breakdown is:
芽　め sprout
亜　あ　asia
梨 り　nashi (Japanese pear)

I think my name literally means "sea of bitterness", so...
苦海　（くがい）?　Perhaps this can be read "くみ", and be more like a girl's name?
My name also means "wished for child", so 望美　OR　望未　（のぞみ）　OR　望子（もちこ）　ETC.
There are other possible origins as well, but I'll stop here.
As a note, my nickname online is typically "Namuko" or 名無子.

"Nameless child?" *laugh* Amusing.

Anyway, if your name is Mary, this is the list I'd start looking through:

http://gokanji.com/cgi-bin/j-e/jis/dosearch?sName=on&H=PW&L=J&T=meri&WC=none&LI=on

Anything tagged with (f) or (u) is a real Japanese name suitable for a girl. You can click the "kanji info" link to explain the meanings of the characters.