Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Japanese)

Table of contents 1 Romanization 2 Name Order 3 Names for Emperors 4 Japanese naming conventions

Romanization Use the Hepburn system in principle. This system has several variants. We have to work out the details.

Basic

ア a	イ i	ウ u	エ e	オ o
カ ka	キ ki	ク ku	ケ ke	コ ko
サ sa	シ shi	ス su	セ se	ソ so
タ ta	チ chi	ツ tsu	テ te	ト to
ナ na	ニ ni	ヌ nu	ネ ne	ノ no
ハ ha	ヒ hi	フ fu	ヘ he	ホ ho
マ ma	ミ mi	ム mu	メ me	モ mo
ヤ ya		ユ yu		ヨ yo
ラ ra	リ ri	ル ru	レ re	ロ ro
ワ wa	ヰ i		ヱ e	ヲ o
ン n/m
ガ ga	ギ gi	グ gu	ゲ ge	ゴ go
ザ za	ジ ji	ズ zu	ゼ ze	ゾ zo
ダ da	ヂ ji	ヅ zu	デ de	ド do
バ ba	ビ bi	ブ bu	ベ be	ボ bo
パ pa	ピ pi	プ pu	ペ pe	ポ po

キャ kya	キュ kyu	キョ kyo
ギャ gya	ギュ gyu	ギョ gyo
シャ sha	シュ shu	ショ sho
ジャ ja	ジュ ju	ジョ jo
チャ cha	チュ chu	チョ cho
ヂャ ja	ヂュ ju	ヂョ jo
ニャ nya	ニュ nyu	ニョ nyo
ヒャ hya	ヒュ hyu	ヒョ hyo
ビャ bya	ビュ byu	ビョ byo
ピャ pya	ピュ pyu	ピョ pyo
ミャ mya	ミュ myu	ミョ myo
リャ rya	リュ ryu	リョ ryo

Extension

			イェ ye
	ウィ wi		ウェ we	ウォ wo
ヴァ va	ヴィ vi	ヴ vu	ヴェ ve	ヴォ vo
			シェ she
			ジェ je
			チェ che
		ティ ti	トゥ tu
		ディ di	ドゥ du
ツァ tsa	ツィ tsi		ツェ tse	ツォ tso
ファ fa	フィ fi		フェ fe	フォ fo
		フュ fyu

Notes

1. ハ and ヘ as particles are spelled <wa> and <e> respectively.
2. ン followed by <b>, <m> or <p> is spelled <m>, the rest <n>.
3. ン followed by vowels or <y> is spelled <n'>.
4. ッ doubles the following consonant except for <sh>, <ch> and <ts>. They are spelled <ssh>, <tch> and <tts> respectively.

If we also use ヌヮ (nwa), we should use <n'> before <w>, or otherwise not. I think it is needless. -- Nanshu

Long vowels can be spelled several ways. For exapmle, オウ can be:

1. ou (following the original)
2. ō (with a macron)
3. ô (with a circumflex)
4. oo (doubling)
5. o (indistinguishable from オ)
6. oh (ad-hoc solution, only for オウ or オオ)

Which do we adopt?

I like the second, but so many articles need fix in this case. -- Nanshu

First, this is a hard question to reach the concrete consensus. My guess is not make a convention about long vowels, meaing use common usage in English. -- Taku 04:00 Mar 14, 2003 (UTC)

Not all terms have "common" usages. I do not think Japanese era names are commonly used in English. We may as well introduce the principle for these words. -- Nanshu 11:54 Mar 14, 2003 (UTC)

Not all. Ok how about I still think there are still some common conventions. For example, it seems that a person and place name is usually written without an ascent while Kamikaze or tokko is probably with ō so Tokkō, probably because the sound in that case is more important.

By the way, I am not a big shot here. No one is such. You don't need to consult me to settle the convention, including the name of a Japanese emperor. But of course, I welcome to ask me for comments.

Anyway the difference between long and short vowels is significant in Japanese as tones are essential to Chinese. Articles on Chinese terms include Pinyin with tone numbers in parenthesis in the first sentence. In the same way, representing the second notation in parenthesis will be good. -- Nanshu 11:54 Mar 14, 2003 (UTC)

Why is the table only showing katakana? Should the table also include hiragana for completeness sake? -- User:Kowloonese 10:14pm Mar 28, 2003 (PDT)

Simply because...

• You can easily find Hiragana counterparts if you know Japanese.
• Extension characters such as ヴィ and ツァ are rarely used in Hiragana.

--- Nanshu 06:24 Apr 29, 2003 (UTC)

Name Order

family name + given name or given name + falimy name?

A proposal

Although historical figures are spelled in original order, modern Japanese are generally romanaized in reverse order. That's confusing. So I suggest that every article for a Japanese is spelled in original order and redirected from the reverse-order page if required.

For example, the article on the current Prime Minister should be "Koizumi Junichiro" and "Junichiro Koizumi" should be redirected to "Koizumi Junichiro". -- Nanshu 05:19 Mar 25, 2003 (UTC)

Yeah, that is exactly what I was thinking. See Prime Minister of Japan. The order of name is disastrous. I second this proposal. While common name convention is important, the trouble of current confusion certainly outweights that of benefits. We keep redirect too, so it should not be much trouble. -- Taku 05:28 Mar 25, 2003 (UTC)

This might confuse people who are unacquainted with Japanese naming styles as to the Japanese person's first name, particularly in articles on people who are becoming rather well known here in the states with Western-order names. -- Pipian 06:19 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Conversely, putting the names the wrong way round might confuse people who are acquainted with Japanese name ordering. I think we should keep the proper (Japanese) order, as a general rule. This seems to be the usual usage nowadays (though there are some exceptions). --Zundark 09:09 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

All you need to do is to put people in as the form of name they are currently known as, with the traditional version (if they aren't using it) put in brackets and a footnote linking to the latter to explain the difference. And if someone is known by the modern form, that should be the main page, with a redirect from the traditional version. FearÉIREANN 17:12 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

So, something like (for someone not using the traditional order):

Ayumi Hamasaki [Hamasaki Ayumi] (Insert Kanji Here) Insert article text here?

Or for using traditional order:

Utada Hikaru (Insert Kanji Here) Insert article text here

Am I right? -- Pipian 19:02 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Names for Emperors

Currently discussed at Talk:Emperor of Japan. See also Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (names and titles).

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How does the above relate to common English usage? --mav 19:51 Mar 13, 2003 (UTC)

Wikipedia lacks unity regarding Japanese romanization now. For exapmle, most Japanese names such as とうきょう Tokyo lacks long-vowel signs (the fifth case), but the first case can be found at Japanese era name (e.g. ねんごう nengou). That's confusing. And I think an encyclopedia would denote long vowels (e.g. nengō) at least once. -- Nanshu 01:59 Mar 14, 2003 (UTC)

What does "not Meiji Emperor, Meiji Emperor" mean? Why twice? -- Zoe

So good they named him twice!!! STÓD/ÉÍRE

Japanese naming conventions Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Thursday, June 12th, 02003.

Japanese Name Conventions. Does Wikipedia have any? I've seen so many various articles with names listed either way:

• Western-style (Hikaru Utada)
• Japanese-style (Utada Hikaru)

It might be a good idea to set something down if there isn't one set in stone already. I personally suggest Western-style, if written in English/Romaji, but Japanese-style if written in Kanji (Unicode character entities).

-- Pipian 05:38 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Kanji names should be in Japanese style and Romaji names should be Western IMHO. (IOW I agree) Emperorbma 05:48 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Alright. I brought this issue up on the Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (biographies) page, as apparently the issue still hasn't been settled on. -- Pipian

Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Japanese) would be the right place.--Nanshu 22:45 9 Jun 2003 (UTC)

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As every encyclopedia does, Wikipedia should list Japanese people by family name. Non-Japanese Wikipedians look confused about Japanese names. --Nanshu

Quote from Talk:List of people

I am confused by listing-manner of Japanese people.

I hope it should be standardized ,but Kurosawa Akira("Kurosawa" is last name & "Akira" is first name) is in K and Miyazaki Hayao("Miyazaki" is last name & "hayao" is first name) is in H now... -- Lupinoid