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Tutorial Tips for giving and writing a Japanese name for your UTAU

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
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Defender of Defoko
Pupuomena submitted a new resource:

Tips for giving and writing a Japanese name for your UTAU - Things that you need to know about naming your UTAU in Japanese

Disclaimers:

- I am NOT a Japanese teacher nor in 100% native level at Japanese even I have some Japanese background but I know enough Japanese to give some (basic) naming/writing tips for a character.

- If you've done any of these "mistakes" what I list here, please, don't take it personally. >>>This is mainly made to help newcomers.<<<

- That you have made any of this "mistakes" listed here do NOT mean that you should change your UTAU's name! Remember that...

Read more about this resource...
 

Mougeki Mero

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
Don't "mix" hiragana/katakana/kanji in a sure name. I mean for this that you don't give a last name that looks something like this when written Japanese (in this example kanji and hiragana are mixed in last name): 明るい音 (akarui oto). Sorry for saying this but it looks like a Google Translate, it does NOT look like a name at all! If you write Kanji surname, ALL marks must be Kanji in sure name to look like a proper name(and if Surname is foreign then written WHOLE surname in Katakana)


~Uhm, I understand your point, but some japanese themselves uses surnames mixed in Hiragana+Kanji...Like for example, みけ音小太郎 (Mikene Kotaro). I know he is not the only one, but it is the one I use mostly so....anyway, should an exception be given to such meaning given surnames? "Mikene" is "Mike's sound" a clear reference to his owner "Mike Gorou"...However his first name has Kanji.

Also, about kanji-only first and surnames? Like Hibiki Shinji (響震路) , are those okay? I dont personally like the first name in a Kanji and I dont think japanese people have kanji...Or they do? Well, thanks for the resource anyway, it is really helpful
 

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
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Don't "mix" hiragana/katakana/kanji in a sure name. I mean for this that you don't give a last name that looks something like this when written Japanese (in this example kanji and hiragana are mixed in last name): 明るい音 (akarui oto). Sorry for saying this but it looks like a Google Translate, it does NOT look like a name at all! If you write Kanji surname, ALL marks must be Kanji in sure name to look like a proper name(and if Surname is foreign then written WHOLE surname in Katakana)


~Uhm, I understand your point, but some japanese themselves uses surnames mixed in Hiragana+Kanji...Like for example, みけ音小太郎 (Mikene Kotaro). I know he is not the only one, but it is the one I use mostly so....anyway, should an exception be given to such meaning given surnames? "Mikene" is "Mike's sound" a clear reference to his owner "Mike Gorou"...However his first name has Kanji.

Also, about kanji-only first and surnames? Like Hibiki Shinji (響震路) , are those okay? I dont personally like the first name in a Kanji and I dont think japanese people have kanji...Or they do? Well, thanks for the resource anyway, it is really helpful

みけ音(Mikene) is more OK than 明るい音(Akaruioto) because in 明るい音, there's in middle of family name hiragana and rest in Kanji; it looks like that is taken a piece of full sentence, that's why it does not look like a name.

In みけ音 or スミ子 however them have a clear "boundary" or "a line" between hiragana/katakana and Kanji (みけ=hiragana, 音=Kanji), so those are asseptable.

As long as in "middle" of a family name is no a random hiragana/katakana, it looks good. I said that "write whole surname in Kanji" because in real life, Japanese family names are fully written in Kanji and it's the "safest" way to write surely fine looking/sounding name.

kanji-only first and surnames are totally fine and in fact it is COMMON that real Japanese people names are Kanji only (I think that I mentioned about this but maybe I written it very unclearly, I'll try explain better and fix my writing later ^^; )

If you have still something, just ask!
 

Mougeki Mero

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
Oh, thanks for your reply. I dont think you did cite the "first name in kanji", just about the surname o.o Or I read and didnt notice XD

Oh, after reading your reply I did remember people's first names in japan are indeed most of time kanji (specially males). I am just used to seeing characters (specially female, in UTAU) which have first name in hiragana...Oops!
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Also this is good for not only naming UTAU but translating their names: I remember past in 2014 I used to go on medley videos and translate their names (I once even discussed with you I think O.O, I didnt know you, a very late sorry) ...It gets harder to translate when there is no hiragana transcription of the name and even worse when people like to use the common translations (I had fights because it is Tyaroemon, not Charoemon. Otodamaya Nitaro, not Nedamaya Nitaro, Meru Melodic, not Ichigoyuu Melodic, etc) without even checking D:


Again, GJ on this resource :creepy:
 

kimchi-tan

Your local Mikotard
Global Mod
Defender of Defoko
Any good/reliable sources for Japanese translations/names? Cdra's guide that you linked recommends jisho.org. Any more good ones?

Also (hopefully it's okay to ask here), how is the name "鬼柳亜音 (Kiyanagi Ane)"? They're both names in jisho, but hopefully the combination isn't bad?
 

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
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Thread starter
Any good/reliable sources for Japanese translations/names? Cdra's guide that you linked recommends jisho.org. Any more good ones?

Also (hopefully it's okay to ask here), how is the name "鬼柳亜音 (Kiyanagi Ane)"? They're both names in jisho, but hopefully the combination isn't bad?
I don't know any English website(s) that is/are good for Japanese name translation but I'll try find some and link them.

鬼柳亜音 looks OK name for me, I don't see reason why not to use it. Just make sure that before using that name for your UTAU that none uses it all ready with simple google search: "UTAU 鬼柳亜音" And "UTAU Kiyanagi Ane". :smile:
[doublepost=1486363789,1486362703][/doublepost]If you're naming your (new) UTAU character in Japanese and you don't know if _____ is a good name or don't know how to write _____ etc: Please, look up yourself first "_____ meaning in English/_____ writing in Japanese" and for Kanji, check its meaning/reading for example at jisho.org .

If you're still unsure, fell free to send me a personal message (or note in DeviantArt or DM in Twitter) and ask there. Don't hesitate to ask!

I usually reply soon in messages (between in a hour to 24h bepending your time zone), however, if I don't reply in 46h (two days), it often means that I'm too busy IRL and/or I'm without Internet connection.

Thank you!
 
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Ponixirma

Momo's Minion
Hi! I hope it's not too much trouble but I'm curious about a few things. My UTAU's name is ハーテザー平和 (Haatezaa Heiwa). In English, it's Hartexor Heiwa. Are made up names okay? And what about katakana+kanji names? (Hartexor is his surname and Heiwa is his given name).
Btw this post has helped me and so many others out so thank you so much for making it ;u;
 

Nohkara

Pronouns: He/him
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
Hi! I hope it's not too much trouble but I'm curious about a few things. My UTAU's name is ハーテザー平和 (Haatezaa Heiwa). In English, it's Hartexor Heiwa. Are made up names okay? And what about katakana+kanji names? (Hartexor is his surname and Heiwa is his given name).
Btw this post has helped me and so many others out so thank you so much for making it ;u;
I think that romanization of last name is fine.

Katakana+Kanji makes aren’t common but doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. In real life, there are surely people name like that (mainly half-Japanese).

I just checked that the given name that you picked seemed to be a legit Japanse name. I haven’t heard that name before IRL but that’s probably just because there aren’t that many Heiwa, I think.

The name isn’t technically wrong. If you’re happy with it, go for it.
 

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