Quote:
Originally Posted by Nagoyankee
Truth is you don't know which one until you ask the name's owner. The pronunciation is exactly the same. Unlike in Chinese, Japanese syllables don't have different tones.
This is why we (Japanese) often ask for the characters used in the other person's name when we introduce each other verbally.
Finally, contrary to what seems to be the belief among "Japan lovers", we don't talk about what our names mean very often. I've never quite understood why I'm asked that question everytime I meet someone from North America. I don't because I've never seen two Americans asking each other for the meaning of their names. Besides, it's not the Japanese name that has a meaning. It's the individual kanji used that has a meaning.
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Americans find it interesting because they know that each character has a "meaning". Whereas with English names, the entire name might have a meaning (or not) but they never mean something like "harmony" or "peace" or whatever other fancy thing people find cool. My name is Jesse. I have no idea if it means anything. At least with Kanji names you can break it apart and say that character X means Y etc. I can see why it would interest Japanese people much less
