LiquidX 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Just reading Indosnms good news about the new baby. I was wondering - those of you with children and you're wives/partners are Japanese.. have you given the children Western (eg Robert) or Japanese style names (eg Ichiro), or choose a name that is good for both (eg Ken). And did you get hassle with the in-laws when naming? Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Good question! We haven't actually had kids yet but have named our potential son/daughter. They are English names but we fully took pronunciation for both Japan and US into consideration. Boy: Justin. Girl: Hana (could be Japanese....for flower). Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 How many little half families (don't say half say double!) are running round with the names Ken and Hana? Lame... completely. You might as well call one Chu and the other one Hanpa. "Uchi no kodomotachi desu. Chutohanpa..." Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I think your post is way lamer to be honest. What has other families kids names got to do with naming your own children? The bottom line is give the kid a name you like and one he/she likes, isn't it? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 > What has other families kids names got to do with naming your own children? Well, I would have thought you'd be able to see the implications of that question for yourself cal... Personally, I never liked the names Ken and Hannah anyway, and using them simply because you hope thereby to give your kid an easy ride in 'both your countries' (indeed, without taking into consideration the possibility that Hannah may choose to live in Botswana where 'hana' means 'turd') is unimaginative and lame. There, I said it again. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Hana is also a name used in Hawaii....where I come from. You're a bit of a prick aren't you Ocean? Why would you diminish any child's name? Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 But what happens if you simply really like the names? That seems to be a good reason to me. Link to post Share on other sites
fantastic 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I think that Hana or Hannah is a lovely name Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I'm afraid i'll have to agree with ocean on this one. If you like a name, go for it, but don't just try to play it safe. My parents played it 'safe' and left me with 'boring' It looks like i'll be getting a full-on whitey bunch of kids, but I reckon they're gonna get full on chinese/Japanese names, because I think they sound better... Link to post Share on other sites
zebedee 1 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 If you like the name Hannah, choose Hannah. I personally think it's a really nice name. If you like some pretentious name, choose it. It depends on what you like - SURELY.... Link to post Share on other sites
miteyak 0 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 I think that sums it up, zebs. You gotta choice, boring or pretentious. I like pretentious Link to post Share on other sites
zebedee 1 Posted May 7, 2003 Share Posted May 7, 2003 Er, no. Why does liking a name make it boring? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Thank you for that bit of ad-hominem Kintaro. Prick is a name I can live with. I see you're a chronic sentimentalist with your hero worship and your "Why would you diminish any child's name?", as if names weren't for life. (Yeah, and I'd rather be a child's name diminisher than one who bombs children from the air...) Names are a funny business. My parents went for pretentious, and one of my friends gave his son my name as his middle name. That gives me a link with his son - we both have pretentious names. I suppose I should have returned the compliment by giving my son his middle name too - but I forgot to, and anyway, it would have been a copy-cat thing to do. As my wife is a copywriter and she took my family name when we got married, she got to choose our boy's name (I wanted to call him Sasuke and was heavily overruled). There are now several younger children running around the neighbourhood with the same name. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 what is ad-hominem? Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 It's Latin for 'at the man'. It means when you make a direct personal attack in a discussion rather than addressing the points a person makes. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 thank you It's always good to learn! Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 PS...Ocean-chan, How is any name "lame"? Are you the authority on names? A name is a name, pal. It ain't good or bad...it's a name. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 I didn't say any specific name was lame. I said that calling your boy Ken and your girl Hana was lame. In over 12 years here, you wouldn't believe how many examples of this I've come across. It's hard not to guffaw rudely when introduced to the kids who happen to be called, wait for it... My foreign boss but not real boss at one of my former jobs had the K&H kids, and it was a real trial to listen to him explain why he had 'chosen' those names - like he was the first person to consider the matter of dual use names. I think having your kid's name tattooed on your back is a perverse thing to do BTW. There's something wrong there... Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 England's cricket captain (for the time being) is called Nasser Hussein. I doubt his parents sat there thinking "That doesn't sound English enough. Let's have an Indian (or whatever his ancestry is) and English name!" Many countries have learnt to live with having lots of different-named people in their population. It's part of what's called "internationalization". From the way they bandy the word about, Japanese people are incredibly keen on it. Why they even employ foreigners to help them do it.... Just a thought, but if daddy dyes his hair black and gets the right cosmetic surgery, people mightn't think he's a gaijin either Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Ocean's right, Ken and Hana have become cliched names for mixed-race Japanese kids. Meeting yet another one is just as anti-climactic and vaguely puzzling as meeting yet another Irish-American "Tim Martin", yet another Jewish "David Cohen", or yet another Korean "Jun Cho". These are all fine names coming from various cultural, historical and personal naming conventions...and each and every person who bears them is a wonderful individual, a miracle of creation, a human being. But in naming one's own kids, one may wish to consider something a bit more imaginative than the old saw "John Smith", eh? There are loads of "half" kids named Ken and Hana. It has been going on so long, my law firm boss, who is half, is named Ken...and he is 50. A J guy at my old company and his J wife had a kid while in the US. They figured that even though he had 100% Japanese DNA, he'd be an international child, so they named him Ken ("we wanted a name easy for both Americans and Japanese to pronounce..." ) How about we turn this into a productive thread by coming up with some good names besides Ken that would work in both Japan and the US? Here's my top 5: ENG----------JAPANESE 5. Barker--------"Baka-san" 4. Ben Joseph----"Ben-jo san" 3. Richard Nagai--"Dick Nagai" 2. Archie K. Barker-"atchi ike, baka" and my top recommendation for naming your kids in Japan, 1. Gary Cadell------"Geri ga deru san" I strongly feel that the above names would give the child a sense of distinction and difference, without relying on cliches or compromising too much to cater to the pronunciation of two entirely different countries. If more children were named as carefully as I have suggested above, the world would surely be a better place. Link to post Share on other sites
Davo 1 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Just don't give kids a really stupid name. I always remember reading about a guy back home who got done for a particularly seedy murder. His name was Ziggy Stardust-I kid you not. Link to post Share on other sites
snowboard_freak 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 I know this dude whos name is Wessel Wessels. Yep, great name hey? You have to wonder what is going through the parents mind when they do it to the poor kid. Link to post Share on other sites
kintaro 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Badmigraine, funny!! I see why you're a five star I took a check from a guy at my parents bar by the (AND I'm NOT kidding.!!)..name: Finger Inger. His parents were sadistic or funny folks. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Similar to ocean, My wife took my family name (which is in katakana) and she said that she would like to have our kids name in kanji. fair enough. We went for a name that can be used in both Japan & Oz, but didn't settle for the "safe bet" as has been mentioned here...anyway Ken reminds me of barbies gay friend! (no offence to the ken's or gay's out there!) We ended up naming our son Kai, which i think is a hot name and its kanji means ocean which is a massive part of our lives and hopefully my sons too. Of course not everyone is going to like every name, but frik em I say and if ya got a problem with it I would be glad 2 sort ya out! Link to post Share on other sites
blinkin'ek 0 Posted May 8, 2003 Share Posted May 8, 2003 Hana sounds like a nice name to me..... Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts