AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Name? Surname? Nickname? (and Discussion)

Dawnstorm · 2013-02-03, 17:47

That's difficult for me to answer, since I'm in a cultural twilight zone when watching anime. I don't speak Japanese (very well), and the naming conventions still aren't entirely natural to me, but I did pick them up. I can't say that I ignore first-/last-name status, but there are interfering characteristics.

Take this season's Kotoura-san. I'm fully aware that Kotoura is the last name, and that her first name is Haruka. I use Kotoura. Everyone in the show does. It's in the title. But if I were to use Haruka I feel... disrespectful, since the people around her don't use her first name, and they're certainly more entitled to use it than I am. It's strange; I sort of chuckle at the difficulties saying someone's first name causes anime characters, and here I am feeling the same embarrassment. Heh.

But if everyone uses first names in the show, so will I.

Sakurasou and Shiina Mashiro is an interesting example, because to me "Shiina" sounds like a first name. It's the interference from a language know better than Japanese. "Sheena" is a first name I'm familiar with, so hearing "Shiina" triggers a first name feeling, even though I know it's the last name. So, sometimes, cultural differences interfere, and my reactions get skewed in some way. With Madoka Magica for example, Tomoe Mami threw me for a loop, since I was used to "Tomoe" as a first name, and hadn't yet encountered it as a last name. So "Tome Mami" and "Mami Tomoe" felt equally wrong to me, since I'd want to start with the last name, but both names sounded like first name to me. (Not that it mattered much, since most the time I'd just say "Mami", anyway.)

So I guess that I pick up the naming convention from the show, but I do also pick up on the familiarity structure. However, I don't pick it up completely, since I'm not firm enough in Japanese. It's like being in a cultural twighlight zone, where I'm usually not confident enough to take initiative, and where I might mess up or get confused. Familiarity does factor in the names choose, but it's not straightforward, and mostly importet from the shows.

Very interesting topic. Thanks for starting this thread.

2013-02-03, 17:47	Link #18
Dawnstorm Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Austria	That's difficult for me to answer, since I'm in a cultural twilight zone when watching anime. I don't speak Japanese (very well), and the naming conventions still aren't entirely natural to me, but I did pick them up. I can't say that I ignore first-/last-name status, but there are interfering characteristics. Take this season's Kotoura-san. I'm fully aware that Kotoura is the last name, and that her first name is Haruka. I use Kotoura. Everyone in the show does. It's in the title. But if I were to use Haruka I feel... disrespectful, since the people around her don't use her first name, and they're certainly more entitled to use it than I am. It's strange; I sort of chuckle at the difficulties saying someone's first name causes anime characters, and here I am feeling the same embarrassment. Heh. But if everyone uses first names in the show, so will I. Sakurasou and Shiina Mashiro is an interesting example, because to me "Shiina" sounds like a first name. It's the interference from a language know better than Japanese. "Sheena" is a first name I'm familiar with, so hearing "Shiina" triggers a first name feeling, even though I know it's the last name. So, sometimes, cultural differences interfere, and my reactions get skewed in some way. With Madoka Magica for example, Tomoe Mami threw me for a loop, since I was used to "Tomoe" as a first name, and hadn't yet encountered it as a last name. So "Tome Mami" and "Mami Tomoe" felt equally wrong to me, since I'd want to start with the last name, but both names sounded like first name to me. (Not that it mattered much, since most the time I'd just say "Mami", anyway.) So I guess that I pick up the naming convention from the show, but I do also pick up on the familiarity structure. However, I don't pick it up completely, since I'm not firm enough in Japanese. It's like being in a cultural twighlight zone, where I'm usually not confident enough to take initiative, and where I might mess up or get confused. Familiarity does factor in the names choose, but it's not straightforward, and mostly importet from the shows. Very interesting topic. Thanks for starting this thread.