Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Depends on what you mean by "names". Kanji names for people and places are read differently than if they are read for nouns, verbs, etc.
For example, 本 is usually read as ほん when talking about books,
but read as もと when it is is someone's name. For example 橋本 is read はしもと.
The line between what is "commonly used" and "not-commonly used" is probably several hundred, if not more, kanji wide. The 2000-3000 kanji required to read a newspaper also include names, and kanji used in names are also used in other readings. What I mean is there is no distinction between "name kanji" and "non-name kanji". If there were, people's names wouldn't have meaning.
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Completely understood, as that's one of the first things I learned about kanji, but I have heard of kanji that are reserved for names only, which have no meanings. I can read some common last name kanji like 山田 and 太郎, and know that each kanji has it's separate meaning, and possibly another meaning while conjoined that I may not be aware of. I think my kanji jisho has a separate section for name-only kanji, but it's been out of use for so long I can't find it.