Hi, as you see in the topic, I’m trying to get an appropriate native Japanese name for my ‘lead’ character and I humbly BEG FOR YOUR HELP! Believe it or not, the internet hasn’t helped me much largely due to the fact that (living in the US) it is difficult for me to understand the “context” of most Japanese Girl names, even when I have their meaning. Thus help from persons who either are Japanese, or know Japan extremely well, would be greatly appreciated.
As this suggests I would like to get a name with genuine meaning that fits with the personality of my character; it is this that I am asking for you to please, please, (pretty please?) help me with.
Ultimately I would like to get a name for my protagonist that has a very… “Spunky” sound to it… but means something cute…
maybe something to do with flowers? Let me show you a picture of her, and tell you a little about the character:
*Born in Japan (and apparently was there long enough to get a name), but orphaned and adopted in the United States by an American family. The nature of this adoption makes her age difficult to be certain of. (15? she acts older...)
*Growing up adopted in the US has left her largely alienated from her Japanese heritage, a fact that leads to humorous circumstances. She thinks her name means something "awesome" but it's actually something "cute or nice"
*As you may suspect from her appearance, she’s quite the Tomboy.
*She likes playing video games; particularly ones that involve killing zombies, being super heroes, or driving really fast and causing spectacular wrecks.
*She watches a lot of movies, and makes a lot of references to them.
*She also likes to draw, often when she should be studying. (She especially likes drawing comics.)
*She is only an average student because she is unfocused; intellectually she's quite clever.
*As capable as she is at acting in naïve innocence, she is just as capable of achieving bitter cynicism far beyond her years, but she’s actually a very good and often sweet girl, with a strong moral compass and a desire to make people’s lives better. She’s just misunderstood occasionally.
*She's a little like “Calvin” from “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strips, but a somewhat better behaved female/Japanese/teenage version of him.
NAMES I'VE CONSIDERED USING: (Maybe this will give you an idea of the... SORT of thing I'm looking for.)
*
Ryoko: Perfect phonetically, but I didn't see any meanings that stood out.
*
Yuzuki: I think I read that it means "gentle moon" (an appropriately inappropriate name.) it could work well, but the sound of the name doesn't really... grab me, though it's in the vein of what I'm looking for.
*
Sakura: Seriously? There was a time I strongly considered using this, but it's just such an...
obvious name... and it makes me think of Street Fighter.
*
Yuri/Yuriko: Yuri makes me think "Russian"... :| sorry...
*
Kikuko: It's a great name, but I don't feel that it
sounds like her name... plus all those "K" sounds get my friends complaining to me...
*
Azami: the website said it means "the flower of a thistle". Which is perfect. Perhaps
too perfect. And I'd kind of like her name to begin with a consonant... maybe
Well that's all for now, If you have any questions you wish to ask, feel free to ask them!
