Question about a Japanese name.............

kimputai

I am looking for some Japanese names, especially for the first born male and female from the upcoming litter. It's not my intention to promote this litter, if all goes well all the pups already have reservations. In the article from Jeff in another thread http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jun/08/why-japan-prefers-pets-to-parenthood?newsfeed=true a person called his dog Kotaro, meaning first born son. After a small research I found these names, first born son is Chou - Nan and first born daughter is Chou- Jo. I really like these names, because I never heard them before. So the first born male will be called Chou-Nan-Gou and the first born female Chou-Jo- Gou. Or is Chou-Nan and Chou-Jo more a name for humans in Japanese?
Thanks in advance.

Heidi

I don't speak Japanese or anything, but I thought Ko means little and taro means boy (like momotaro, the peach boy), so Kotaro would just be little boy. I don't know anything about the other names, sorry. I think it's okay to give dogs people names, though.

TheWalrus

Cho-nan means oldest son, Cho-jo means oldest daughter. They are not names that you would call a child, in the same way that and English speaker would not name their son 'First-born' (probably not?).

Traditionally 'Taro' 太郎 is a name that means first born. More recently the name 'Ichiro' 一郎 has become common and means first son.

For girls you could use the same kanji for 'Cho-jo' and read it as 'Nagame', 'Osame', or 'Osami'. That way the meaning behind the kanji would still be first born, or oldest, daughter.

jeffnkazuko

Shinichi is sometimes a name give to a first born son.

kimputai

Thanks all. @TheWalrus Ichiro, is the name of the baseball player? Nagame, that's also a name I like. Not so common as Taro, Yuki, Tama, Meishi, Yoko, you see those names almost every where. @jeffnkazuko Shinichi, I like that one. Oh well, I guess most of the buyers will call the dog Bob, Bill, Sarah or Luna after all.............

curlytails

I did meet a lady once who had named her Mastiff mix "Firstborn." Didn't exactly roll off the tongue, but I thought it was quite a unique name...

EDIT: One of the characters in my Chinese name is designated for firstborns. I looked it up on jisho.org and found that 孟女 moujo is specified for firstborn daughters. Neat -- especially since I don't think it's gendered in Chinese.

kimputai

@curlytails a Mastiff called firstborn? LOL............In that case, I call mine he-is-the-one- who-popped-out-first-after-3 hours-of contractions.

Heidi

This is starting to sound like my kids talking about what they want to name their future dogs some day.

Isaac: I want a dog named Poopy-Doopy-Stoopy-Whoopy
*both laughing hysterically*
Matea: I want a dog named Momadoma-poopypants
*both laughing hysterically*
Isaac: I want a dog named Gooberboober
*both laughing hysterically*
Me: How about a dog named Emi?
*they look at each other*
Matea: No.
Isaac: Yeah, that's a stupid name.

okiron

Shinichi was a prospective baby name for #2 for us lol.

CarabooA

@hondru.... lol ... kids are great... )