Meaning of Japanese given names

Kaori - scent
Natsumi - summer beauty
koharu - little spring
maki - true hope
mika - beautiful scent
Ai - love
Miki - beautiful tree or beautifully precous
Ayumi - walking beauty
Mao - very center

I'm afraid you are generalizing. The romaji of a word, which is essentially the pronounciation, can be written in different ways in kanji a lot of times. Every different way a name is written can give a different meaning.

thtl wrote:I'm afraid you are generalizing. The romaji of a word, which is essentially the pronounciation, can be written in different ways in kanji a lot of times. Every different way a name is written can give a different meaning.

That is why Chinese characters (kanji) can be so cryptic to the uneducated like me! :beaten:

thtl wrote:I'm afraid you are generalizing. The romaji of a word, which is essentially the pronounciation, can be written in different ways in kanji a lot of times. Every different way a name is written can give a different meaning.

True...like the name Aoi. Â means blue, ˆ¨ means hollyhock (name of Gazette guitarist),

thtl wrote:I'm afraid you are generalizing. The romaji of a word, which is essentially the pronounciation, can be written in different ways in kanji a lot of times. Every different way a name is written can give a different meaning.

Correct. Absolutely correct.

I think you can write, for example, the name "Aki" in some 20 or so ways. Often NOT meaning "autumn", which is the primary translation used in romaji. Best example: actress Maeda Aki, ‘O“cˆŸ‹G.

I'm one of those people who love that. All the word plays that are possible. GREAT! :dancing:

Personally, I think romaji are only useful for learning the pronunciation. Other than that, well... for once there is no standard that has to be used when writing (the "Ō" "for example, I've seen it as "oh" and "ou" in romaji, both work, annoying as hell), and secondly you miss all the different meanings that the kanji have, which, of course, western letters used for romaji can not specify.

shiroi_tora wrote:

True...like the name Aoi. Â means blue

But the Japanese will interchange that same word for green as well. If you ask a Japanese person what the bottom color on a traffic light is, they'll answer "Aoi" everytime. [/list:u]

gaijinmark wrote: But the Japanese will interchange that same word for green as well. If you ask a Japanese person what the bottom color on a traffic light is, they'll answer "Aoi" everytime. [/list:u]

Their light is blue??? Cool

I think it definetly depends on the context of the question or sentence

Different kanji, different meaning, same pronunciation.

Though, that's shouldn't be alien for you people. What about... "then" and "than"? Or "buy", "bye" and "by". "There", "they're" and "their". Or in German "ist" and "isst".

Crazy Penguin wrote:Different kanji, different meaning, same pronunciation.

Though, that's shouldn't be alien for you people. What about... "then" and "than"? Or "buy", "bye" and "by". "There", "they're" and "their". Or in German "ist" and "isst".

Thats true. We do have the same thing. Except that when it comes to Kanji you need to memorize each character where as with English as long as you can read you can sound it out

shiroi_tora wrote:

Thats true. We do have the same thing. Except that when it comes to Kanji you need to memorize each character where as with English as long as you can read you can sound it out

That just adds to the fun, if you ask me :P

Crazy Penguin wrote:
That just adds to the fun, if you ask me :P

I dont know about fun....I just feel stupid.. :ashamed:

shiroi_tora wrote:
Their light is blue??? Cool

No, their light is green, they just the word "aoi" [/list:u]

gaijinmark wrote: No, their light is green, they just the word "aoi" [/list:u]

huh....man i feel confused right now :confused: ....Why would they say Aoi if the light is green??? Isnt there another word for green?

shiroi_tora wrote:Why would they say Aoi if the light is green??? Isnt there another word for green?

The word for green is "midori" but they usually only use it for grass, shrubbery, things like that. Don't ask me why, just another Japanese custom. [/list:u]

gaijinmark wrote: The word for green is "midori" but they usually only use it for grass, shrubbery, things like that. Don't ask me why, just another Japanese custom. [/list:u]

unless you're a girl in the States and order a midori sour.... :drink:

Tu_triky wrote:

unless you're a girl in the States and order a midori sour.... :drink:

Isnt Midori green in the bottle????? Is it from Japan

shiroi_tora wrote:

Isnt Midori green in the bottle????? Is it from Japan

from the Wiki:

Midori is a bright, green-coloured, honeydew melon-flavored cordial made by Suntory. It is manufactured in Mexico, though it was originally made in Japan until 1987. It began life in 1978 with a launch party held in New York's infamous Studio 54[1].

Midori is usually 20-21% alcohol by volume. The name comes from midori, the Japanese word for "green".

As it is extremely sweet, Midori is rarely consumed by itself. It is generally used in a mixed drink or cocktail; for example, a Midori Illusion or a Japanese slipper. Midori is usually mixed with lemonade, fresh lemon juice, lime juice, pineapple juice or orange juice. Sour flavours are often used to balance its sweetness.

Tu_triky wrote:


from the Wiki:

Midori is a bright, green-coloured, honeydew melon-flavored cordial made by Suntory. It is manufactured in Mexico, though it was originally made in Japan until 1987. It began life in 1978 with a launch party held in New York's infamous Studio 54[1].

Midori is usually 20-21% alcohol by volume. The name comes from midori, the Japanese word for "green".

As it is extremely sweet, Midori is rarely consumed by itself. It is generally used in a mixed drink or cocktail; for example, a Midori Illusion or a Japanese slipper. Midori is usually mixed with lemonade, fresh lemon juice, lime juice, pineapple juice or orange juice. Sour flavours are often used to balance its sweetness.

mmmm sounds good...especially right now (i am in physics class)

Crazy Penguin wrote:Different kanji, different meaning, same pronunciation.

Though, that's shouldn't be alien for you people. What about... "then" and "than"? Or "buy", "bye" and "by". "There", "they're" and "their". Or in German "ist" and "isst".

But some people can't even tell the difference between those, so which makes me doubt they can tell the difference between Japanese homonyms. :hehe:

shiroi_tora wrote:

huh....man i feel confused right now :confused: ....Why would they say Aoi if the light is green??? Isnt there another word for green?

The old word for green, Â(ao), came from China and actually describes blue. Blue was one of the first colours produced artificially, as in dyes. The Chinese has always described the sky as green in their literature of old, and the Japanese probably picked that up when they travelled to China eons ago.

BTW 'ao' is green, and 'aoi' is the adjective.