Thread: Name in kanji
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03-20-2010, 01:53 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by sarasi View Post
Actually Yoko was born in Tokyo and moved to the US not long after. She does have kanji (小野洋子) but usually writes her name in katakana because she prefers to, I believe. I know a Japanese man who is well-known in his field, but in print his name is always in katakana, simply because he prefers it that way. He also has a kanji name but rarely uses it.

I don't really see anything wrong with picking kanji for fun for your name, as long as the person realises it will never be something they can use legally (unless they move to Japan and take on citizenship, or register themselves a legal alias here) but if Yuki wants an authentic-looking name, then 友気 will not work. She asked why not earlier on- the answer is because the kanji 気 is just not normally used in names, so it looks odd- as above, like naming yourself "table". There are plenty of other options for ki which are used in women's names, like 希 (hope) or 貴 (valued).

As for the screen name yukikosan, although it is a screen name, a screen name is still something used to refer to oneself, and you just do not use "san" to refer to yourself, ever. If Yuki wants to show respect to the Japanese culture, she could start by accepting that yukikosan is an inappropriate screen name.
You are right, Yoko Ono was born in Tokyo...my mistake there.

It seems her father was in the US when she was born, and moved there soon after.

If someone wants to fool around with nicknames, that is fine (though real nicknames are chosen for you, not chosen by you).
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