My japanese teacher in college used to say it was "ke" like in "keg", haha. The hiragana character kinda looks like a keg (if you imagine real hard), so it was a memory trick too.
"beast" can be 獣(kemono or Kedamono),野獣（Yaju） or 畜生（Chiku-sho). Warning-"畜生" is a very vulgar word(inappropriate for dog's name）.English word "Damn" is often translated as "畜生" in Japanese. Shihi is a archaic word for large animals such as deers and boars. Kaiju means a monster such as Godzilla in Japanese.
Oh, I wanted to use as a dog name. The hub wanted to call Freddie "beast" and he has been calling him Kimono (pronounced like the traditional dress) and I think it sounds ridiculous because I keep thinking of a kimono dress.
What about if you imagine some more specific kind of beast? i.e. Raiju 雷獣 (RYE-joo), a mythic beast that rides on thunderbolts Pic from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raijū
Ooh, that's another cool mythical beast too. Very auspicious creature that arrives either in times of great turmoil or great prosperity. Requires an adept sage to come forth and recognize him for what it is. Apparently Kirin is the Japanese pronunciation. But then you'd have probably have to explain repeatedly that you did NOT name your dog after the beer... unless you want to name your dog after beer.
@ttddinh Damn, you're right... Sorry, I got all giddy trying to brainstorm names. LOL. Because I'm a bit of a dork, I'd probably go mining the archives of Russo-Japanese encounters looking for an appropriate name. Or maybe somewhere in Manchukuo, if one can navigate the taint of military history.
@curlytails I think Raikou was based off of the Raijou (He's from the second Pokemon generation, one of the 3 legendary dogs, except he looks more like a feline to me than a dog :P)
I worked at an anime store during the original Pokemon years. Part of my job "responsibilities," as it were, was to know the whole damn list of Pokemon. I'm happy to say that I've long since purged most of their names from memory, and luckily was never held accountable for the later Pokemon after I finally left that job. Heh. Memories...
I'm younger than most people here, but I only know all the names up to the second generation (the first 2 gens were my favorite). I've played the newer games, but have no clue what the names are, because I don't even bother to remember them anymore.
Comments
Warning-"畜生" is a very vulgar word(inappropriate for dog's name）.English word "Damn" is often translated as "畜生" in Japanese.
Shihi is a archaic word for large animals such as deers and boars.
Kaiju means a monster such as Godzilla in Japanese.
Jesse
i.e. Raiju 雷獣 (RYE-joo), a mythic beast that rides on thunderbolts
Pic from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raijū
From here: http://tiktak-ladies.at.webry.info/200708/article_11.html
Dear god, I haven't thought about classic Pokemon in forever...
Sorry, I got all giddy trying to brainstorm names. LOL. Because I'm a bit of a dork, I'd probably go mining the archives of Russo-Japanese encounters looking for an appropriate name. Or maybe somewhere in Manchukuo, if one can navigate the taint of military history.
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs20/f/2007/269/0/6/Raikou_Sprite_by_Flash__the__Hedgehog.png
I worked at an anime store during the original Pokemon years. Part of my job "responsibilities," as it were, was to know the whole damn list of Pokemon. I'm happy to say that I've long since purged most of their names from memory, and luckily was never held accountable for the later Pokemon after I finally left that job. Heh. Memories...
My nephews are highly impressed that I still remember most of the Kanto Pokemon. :-)
I'm so tired of pikachu...