Japanese Names

[Androxine Vortex]

Hello fellow members of Mythic Scribbles!

The other day I had a totally random idea for a novel and over the past few days I have fallen in love with it completely and want to start working on it. I want to have the "ethnicity" of the people japanese. I want the characters to have names that you might find on an anime show, they don't have to be traditional. In fact, I'm looking for cool-sounding, flashy names if that makes sense. And they don't have to be 100% japanese exclusive, I've got an idea for a character who I'm naming Jet.

I tried looking for some good japanese name gens but after three pages I gave up. Does anyone here know of any good ones or have any ideas? If so, hit me up!

Lol and Happy Good Friday =)

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Oh and also do you think it would be a bad idea to use japanese style names? Like will it throw off readers? That's why I'm trying to not make it too authentic. Some sample names:

Jet
Reiko
Yori
Rosu
Shinjoku (called Shin)
Yoshiro
Dakura
Akaru
Ryuzen

What do you think? I'm trying to keep them simple yet not bland

 

[Philip Overby]

I live in Japan, so maybe I can give you a bit of insight. Since my wife is Japanese, she may be able to tell if a name sounds "cool" or interesting. I can tell you the name Jet would probably have people think of the JET Programme, which is a foreign teacher program that puts them in Japanese schools as assistant language teachers.

I think using Japanese style names will most likely make the reader think you are doing an Asian-style story, like Tales of the Otori, which you might want to check out. If you're not doing an Asian-style story, it would look out of place.

Just looking at these names, Reiko is the only one that sounds like a real name that I'd see today. Shin also possibly, more than likely a shortened version of Shinsuke.

Update: My wife mentioned that Akaru sounds sort of interesting, and Yoshiro sounds like an old-style name. Reiko just sounds like a normal name. However all the others don't sound like real names. Of course to non-native Japanese, they don't know the difference. One thing to note though is that if you are using Japanese style names, most people that read stuff like that might know the difference, especially anime and manga fans.

If you want any other feedback, I might be able to help some.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

I live in Japan, so maybe I can give you a bit of insight. Since my wife is Japanese, she may be able to tell if a name sounds "cool" or interesting. I can tell you the name Jet would probably have people think of the JET Programme, which is a foreign teacher program that puts them in Japanese schools as assistant language teachers.

I think using Japanese style names will most likely make the reader think you are doing an Asian-style story, like Tales of the Otori, which you might want to check out. If you're not doing an Asian-style story, it would look out of place.

Just looking at these names, Reiko is the only one that sounds like a real name that I'd see today. Shin also possibly, more than likely a shortened version of Shinsuke.

Update: My wife mentioned that Akaru sounds sort of interesting, and Yoshiro sounds like an old-style name. Reiko just sounds like a normal name. However all the others don't sound like real names. Of course to non-native Japanese, they don't know the difference. One thing to note though is that if you are using Japanese style names, most people that read stuff like that might know the difference, especially anime and manga fans.

If you want any other feedback, I might be able to help some.

Thank you and tell your wife I said thanks as well! I understand your point about having the names out of place. Don't think of this as a fantasy novel like swords and dragons and such. I agree that it would be strange to have samurai fighting in a typical fantasy setting. It's hard to explain this early on in development but just know that the names will fit.

apparently Yoshiro is an actual real name in japan lol

And what part of japan do you live in (if you don't mind me asking) My grandmother used to live in Okinawa.

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, Yoshihiro seems to be more common. Yoshiro sounds like an older style name. Even if it's not a fantasy novel, having Japanese sounding names is going to mean people will expect an Asian sort of setting. Not necessarily samurai or anything, but something that evokes Asian culture.

To a Japanese speaker, most of the names don't sound Japanese. Not sure if that's what you're going for though (to not sound real).

I live near Yokohama.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

Yeah, Yoshihiro seems to be more common. Yoshiro sounds like an older style name. Even if it's not a fantasy novel, having Japanese sounding names is going to mean people will expect an Asian sort of setting. Not necessarily samurai or anything, but something that evokes Asian culture.

To a Japanese speaker, most of the names don't sound Japanese. Not sure if that's what you're going for though (to not sound real).

I live near Yokohama.

Do you think using Japanese names would have a negative impact on my novel if I don't stress the japanese culture too much? My novel is a combination of fantasy and sci-fi (mainly sci-fi : lots of technology and cyborgs but with magic involved too) The way I imagined it in my head sounds a lot like old anime cartoons I used to watch as a kid so i just figured japanese names would fit nicely.

 

[Philip Overby]

This is just my opinion, but if I saw Japanese sounding names in a story, I'd expect some connection to Japanese culture in some way. Japan is the only country in the world where Japanese is the number 1 language and very few other countries even use the language as a secondary one.

I think most readers when they see Japanese in a story would want something that brings them into sort of an alternate Japanese world. Not enough writers use those kind of names in fantasy/sci-fi, and if they do it has some connection to Japanese culture (Tales of the Otori, Neuromancer, and The Man in the High Castle are just some examples.)

For people who don't know much about Japan or have never lived here, you can get away with that easier though.

 

[DavidJae]

Japanese Names;
Akihito
Yushishiro
Watanabe
Tenkawa
Akito
Rei
Ruri
Hoshino
Maya

 

[Ivan]

I agree with Phil, if you are not going to have much of anything that is Japanese-related, it is a bit odd to use names that even sound Japanese. I could probably get used to it, but I think it would be better to obfuscate them a bit.