Your name in Katakana
Posted by: kirin on 
Sep 18th, 2009 | 
Filed under: Learn Japanese
Thank you so much for your comments to my Japanese video. I was really wondering if I should ever start Japanese tutorial videos like this, although I have received requests from my blog readers from time to time.
I found comments from my blog readers sound so interesting, as I never know what you’d feel confused or difficult when you learn Japanese. You know, when I mean I never know, which is because it’s a mother tongue to me and I am not a qualified Japanese teacher. But thanks to your opinions and comments, I think I know what I should explain in my following videos.
BTW, I found an interesting Japanese site that lists foreign names (British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Greek, Finnish, Russian and Korean) described in Katakana! Now you know why these are to be in Katakana, and not in Hiragana. 
*Press the flag. 3 flags for one country means; 1st one for male name, 2nd one for female name, and the 3rd one for family name.
Your name may not be there, as there’s no way the site can cover every name. You may also wonder how your name can be described in Kanji. This is a frequently asked question all the time, but I’ll spare a post on that for next time!
Enjoy your name in Japanese! 
Tags: 
September 18th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
片仮名で私の名前はアマンダです。でも、私の漢字の書き方をまだ決めていません。
I've looked up a few translations and they usually have this kanji for "a" –> 亜
でも、あの漢字は好きじゃないですよ！>＿<
I once received calligraphy of my name in kanji that looks like this –> 明満妥
好きですが、『明』を読むと、『あか・るい』を考えます。日本人は明満妥を見たら、どんな読み方を考えるでしょうか？そして、女の名前みたいの？
よろしくお願いします！
September 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
:'( I can't read the page . I probably need to install a font (character type) , but thanks for the link . I'll be able to mark my clothes , luggage ,etc.. with my name in Katakana when I go to Japan. ( in this life or my next )
Actually i already know my name in katakana. Keiko-sensei showed me when I attended a Umi-e class with her in London.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:07 am
OK, let's discuss this in my next video. I'll think of other options for you in the video.
September 19th, 2009 at 2:17 am
You may just need to select the character encoding for the page. In Firefox, that's under View | Character Encoding | Auto-Select | Japanese. In IE, right-click on the page | Encoding | Auto-Select. If the auto-select doesn't work, try selecting Japanese (EUC) manually.
It is possible that you need to install a character set, or a font set, but I think it's just an encoding issue.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:27 am
hello kirin chan ! I wanna ask is it that kaijin uses katakana for their name coz they are foreign/ their name are foreign? so does tht mean that Japanese can only use hiragana/kanji for their name?
Thanks in advance !
September 19th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
ディヤナ My name in Katakana~~
September 20th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Good question! Our names are mostly in Kanji, unless the parents name us in Katakana or in Hiragana.
We prefer to have Kanji names rather than Katakana or Hiragana ones because each Kanji has a meaning itself.
This means, naming with good meaning of Kanji allows us to have meaning of "beautiful" "smart" "warm-hearted" "healthy" "love" "honest" and whatever…in our names. (There should be no parents who name their kids "devil" "mean" "dishonest" or whatever in bad meaning.) But Katakana or Hiragana names do not have any meanings. They are just letters.
BTW, you mean "kaijin" -> "gaijin" as foreigners in Japanese, right?
Gaijin names are usually described in Katakana because they are foreign.
But I think it's fun to pick up the best Kanji as they learn Japanese.
September 20th, 2009 at 5:04 am
Thank you G…, I don't know such technical things.
Your comment was helpful.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:13 am
葉世榮 = イプ サイ ウェング 。。。hehe don't know correct or not. How to pronounce the kanji in japanese?
September 21st, 2009 at 12:41 am
Oh you already know that. Cool!
September 21st, 2009 at 12:54 am
Wow that looks like Chinese? 葉 ha(kun-yomi) or you(on-yomi) 世 yo(kun) or se(on) and we have a similar Kanji 栄, but not exactly the one or yours but it's saka(eru) or ei….so that sounds like "youyoei" or something. ウェング! I wonder if our Kanji has any sound like that. In that way Chinese has more options of sounds?
September 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
It is chinese. 榮 means "flourish". And the katakana I wrote up there is what it would sound like in cantonese. What's the meaning of this 栄 in japanese?
September 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm
BTW, you mean “kaijin” -> “gaijin” as foreigners in Japanese, right?
yup, sorry !
umm excited for the post about how to translate our name to kanji. (for my case: chinese> katakana> kanji ?! it it even possible? >”< )
thank you very much !<:
September 21st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
edit: eh the post is alrd out !im checking it out now !
October 7th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Exactly the same as your letter in Chinese. (I think our 栄 is a simple version of 榮. When I type "ei" in Japanese my computer suggests many Kanji options that have "ei" sounds, and when I keep scrolling, I can also find your 榮. But this character is not popular in Japan. I've never used it in my life. I strongly feel that 榮 has been replaced by 栄 in Japanese. We use 栄 a lot, such as …繁栄、栄光, you can guess these huh?)
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