Japanese Dog Names

TheWalrus

I just threw together another blog to help people trying to name their Nihon Ken.

At the moment I have a list of rather generic male/female names in alphabetical order. Hopefully in the future I will have time to add some more interesting lists based on different themes such as historical figures, geographical locations, etc.

Take a look! http://japanesedognames.blogspot.jp/

musashi

Thanks Shigero!

shishiinu

Nice!

sachismom

I like it. thank you! I would have really liked it about a year ago when I was thinking about a name for my puppy. I am happy with Sachi though (pun intended).

BradA1878

Awesome! Thanks Shigeu!

jujee

Nice! Will have to refer back to this in the future, but for now, I gotta look at American non-pet names =P

sunyata

@jujee - OOOOOH!?

@TheWalrus - Thanks for putting that together!

WrylyBrindle

That's really cute- I love the puppy photos at each letter. Nicely done!
I wish I knew what they mean! or are they names - like how "Reilly" doesnt really mean anything? Culturally is it disrespectful or odd to give a dog a human name? Like "Seiji?"

TheWalrus

They're just names, so most can be used for people or animals. As far as meanings go, since every kanji has a meaning, names made up of kanji have meanings. I could add the meaning for the kanji used, but that's just way too much work for right now. Plus if you change even one of the kanji, the reading can be the same, but the meaning entirely different.

Heidi

Cool! Sometimes I wonder if the names I pick out sound retarded to Japanese people, so these are like Japanese-endorsed, lol.

@jujee .....o rly?

Heidi

I notice Sousuke is on there... is that how I should be spelling Sosuke, or does it not matter? I just took it from Ponyo...

PoetikDragon

@TheWalrus that is awesome.

I got a lot of my A names from http://www.akitapedigree.com/, maybe there are more you could add from there?

TheWalrus

Sosuke, Sousuke, either one's fine. Usually when spelling names, the rule is to drop the 'u' or extra 'o', but for dog pedigree stuff I usually leave it in there for the sake of clarity.

ttddinh

@jujee-- congrats????

CrimsonO2

Yay! Kurenai and Koyuki on the banner FTW!!!

Jesse

lwroth

Very nice--thanks so much!

renae

Thanks! I'll definitely use this when I'm naming my pups.

Heidi

So, are those two versions of the name in kanji, separated by a dash, or is that the whole name, dash included?

Hinata23

@hondru

If I understand your question correctly, the dashes Shigeru uses on his names list separate the different writing systems used in Japan. So, Sousuke spelled first in Roman letters, then hiragana (Japanese phonetic writing--そうすけ), and finally kanji characters (壮介).

It's kind of complicated, but Japan has a total of four writing systems that they switch between depending on the context. To learn the meaning of a name, though, you have to look at the kanji like Shigeru mentions above. The same name can be written with a bunch of different characters. For example, Sousuke can be written as 壮介 or 宗介 or 創介 or 壮祐--that way, you get to kind of choose from a few different options what you want the name to mean while still pronouncing it "Sousuke."

I hope that helps a little. It's pretty tricky to explain.

okiron

Sousuke - そうすけ - 壮介

Romaji - Hiragana - Kanji

Heidi

Oh, wow, there's not just kanji. :oP Good to know. I should learn more about this. I don't know enough about Japanese or Japan.

Anyway, I think this one is for my Sosuke: 宗介 I'm pretty sure that's the Sosuke from Ponyo, and that's who he's named after. So what does it mean, anyway?

Hinata23

These are the meaning of each Kanji:

宗: denomination; essence; main point; origin; religion; sect;
介: concern oneself with; jammed in; mediate; shellfish;

Put them together and you can make up a meaning.

Hinata23

You would have to ask Shigeru and see if he knows a more concrete reading of it...

TheWalrus

The meanings for the kanji are pretty much as Hinata23 put them. You can understand why I haven't put the meanings for all the names on the site. I could come up with dozens of meanings for each name.

PoetikDragon

By the way, if you are like me and have difficulty typing in kanji (eg. from a pedigree) try this: http://jisho.org/kanji/radicals/. Also this is a nice way to convert romaji or english http://jisho.org/words/.

My dogs...
桃の幸号 - Momo No Sachi Go, happy peach
望郷乃虎号 - Boukyou No Tora Go ... best guess is nostalgic tiger? lol
Hanae Go I don't have her pedigree yet to see the kanji used

I think the differences between the two pedigrees are interesting. One uses の and the other uses 乃. Also, on the newer one, 号 is pre-printed on the pedigree, whereas its part of the name for the older one.

Heidi

So Sosuke could mean religious shellfish? lol

Cool.

Hinata23

@hondru lol yup! The beauty of Kanji

WrylyBrindle

Juno's registered name is Momiji, I dont know the kanji, but I chose that because I think it means red maple tree. Given our colorful autumns and maple sugaring springs, I thought its a good name for a Japanese dog in Vermont, and its fun to say, even though I never call her that.

jeffnkazuko

Momoji is a nice name especially for a brindle!! Momo is another good call name for a female. Peach.

mot

@Wryly Brindle
The Kanji for Momiji is "椛"or"紅葉"
Latter one also means "Autumn leaf color".

WrylyBrindle

Wow! thank you!
My daughter will want to try to learn to write them.
I would love to have a tag made for Juno with her Japanese name on it- I will have to look for something like that.