jinmeiyou kanji
 

Is jinmeiyou kanji used in words besides names, and is it important to learn how to write japanese names in kanji? I know there are multiple ways to write a name with several different kanji. oh and how many jinmeiyou are on the current list? 　　　　(ノ^_^)ノ

Why would you use romaji when wanting to discuss kanji? I ask this because it can affect the way we reply. Can we use any kanji in our replies? It would be a mess and considerably less informative and educational if we had to use only romaji in this thread.

Sorry. I'm new to this site. I don't really know how it works yet.

Hi Dosu,

There are currently 861 Kanji in the 人名用漢字 list.

Jinmeiyō kanji - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Should answer some of your questions.

I'm not sure what you mean by "I know there are multiple ways to write a name with several different kanji" though... If a person's name uses a certain Kanji then that is the only correct way to write their name. You can't just substitute in a phonetic equivalent Kanji if that is what you are suggesting.

Thanks, what I ment was that there are multiple readings for a kanji, and is it hard to figure out how the name is pronounced correctly?

In the case of names it can be hard to know how to read certain ones. Names are different from words in that with just a normal word written in Kanji you will usually be able to tell how to read it from experience. Names can sometimes be read different ways however, but there is often only one or two common readings.

Learning how to read names in Kanji is significantly more difficult for foreign speakers of Japanese because they do not grow up seeing these names frequently. All Japanese textbooks I've seen make no effort to help this problem and just use the most basic names (田中さん、上田さん、etc.) over and over rather than introducing new names.

A native speaker might be able to elaborate more on how easy/difficult it is to read uncommon names.

It often is not only very difficult but also impossible even for us native speakers. There simply are too many exceptions in how names are pronounced, which is why when you write your name on any form, you also write how it is pronounced.

Under the Japanese Civil laws, you are allowed to read a kanji in any way you want to when you name a baby and go to city hall to register it. Not too many parents take advantage of this law, though, because if you do, your kid will have to spend a large portion oh his/her life explaining how his/her name is read.

Some parents do take full advantage of this and name their kids the way only they can read it. My old schoolmate's parents belonged in this group and named his son 大. Someone take a guess at how it's read!

And how about my neighbors' daughter's name 光 ?

I guess the first ones name is Dai..? Or is that what you want me to say? :p

The second one is Hikari, I remember it from learning the kanji, sparkle.

I knew someone would come up with those answers! :D

To be fair, though, you won't even come close until I tell you. :)

Say whaaaat!? :p