Help with transcribing names

[masaegu]

[MMM]

Originally Posted by tipsygypsy

Yes I am. There are some names I can't write in kanji tho.

I strongly suggest you reconsider, per the warnings you have already received. There are places to play on Japan Forum, but this isn't one of them.

[RobinMask]

Out of curiosity is it ever "correct" to write a foriegn name in Kanji? I was always told foriegn names like Karen or Mandeep or Francois were supposed to be written in Katakana . . . If it isn't "correct", per se, to use the Kanji is there ever a circumstance where it may be accepted or prefered to use kanji for a foriegn name?

[KyleGoetz]

Originally Posted by RobinMask

Out of curiosity is it ever "correct" to write a foriegn name in Kanji? I was always told foriegn names like Karen or Mandeep or Francois were supposed to be written in Katakana . . . If it isn't "correct", per se, to use the Kanji is there ever a circumstance where it may be accepted or prefered to use kanji for a foriegn name?

You'll get different answers from different people, including natives. masaegu is on the "always katakana" camp. Other posters in the past, such as NagoYankee and SashiMister have been as well. I know MMM (who is not a native, but a very highly skilled non-native) is in the "only katakana" camp as well.

For what it's worth, I had a professor of history at Japanese university who declared it was acceptable for a foreigner to have a kanji name. Those born with kanji names (e.g., Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese) can as well. What is interesting is that foreign-born Japanese are not supposed to. So if you're Hamasaki born in Tokyo, you are 浜崎. But if you are born in Hawaii, you are ハマサキ. My own opinion (for what little it is worth) is below in this post.

Legally, if you become a Japanese citizen, you have to take a kanji name for official documents. Some foreigners who do this merely transcribe their names into kanji. A famous one in some circles is David Aldwinkle, who now has the name 有道出人 which is read "Arudo Debito." But this law isn't the case for non-citizens who reside in Japan (like me when I went to university in Tokyo).

The caveat is that Japanese people will look at such a kanji compound and WTF. So it's advisable that you not do it.

To me, the correct answer (and one that incorporates the various opinions) is that it is:
(1) linguistically possible to do so, but
(2) not socially possible because the name will be tough/impossible to read, it will probably look very silly, and many will just think you're dumb/a weeaboo.

The best answer you're going to get for your actual question, then, is "katakana is always the right choice, with the caveat that kanji-using countries' people can keep their kanji names—so if you happen to get a Chinese name, you can use it in Japan, too—and immigrant citizens can kanji-fy their names.

[RobinMask]

Thanks for the detailed answer, that really helped to clear things up