Anyone?

Does anyone know of a good website that translates English names into japanese? If so, please post it here.

 

I did once.....my friend showed me it.......unfortunately I don't remember.....search Google or Yahoo.....

 

Google translator?

 

There's no real "Japanese" counterpart for a foreign name other than simply translating the sounds of your name into the Japanese alphabet (via Katakana).

As far as legitimate Japanese-native names, these are given to you by people--and no translator can do that for you.

For example, there's no native-Japanese translation for "David", it would simply be translated into Japanese notation as Deivido (デイヴィド), or Davido (ダヴィド).

To do the above using a computer program is pretty sophisticated in itself, and as far as I know, no program exists.

 

..........what about something like Angel?.......it would be translated into Tenshi right?......but that's only because it's also a noun.......and that name thing is the same for Chinese.

 

Wait. So why would it be Davido?

 

The reason why names like that work in Japanese is because it's a cultural thing for them to name their children with poetic nuances.

Many Japanese surnames have symbolic references in them. Nakamachi (depending on the kanji used) can mean "Within the town". Yamashita can mean "Under the Mountain", etc.

So sure, you can easily translate your names into Japanese-native names if there's the same amount of symbolism to be found in them. But when you have names like Bob, Ben, Jane, Matthew, Peter, etc--there's no Japanese-native words for this.

In essence, the Japanese will take a foreign word and pronounce it using the Japanese phonetic system. "Da" exists in Japanese, "vi" is possible in the Katakana alphabet, but 'd' by itself isn't possible, so they will choose the closest sound to it, which is "do". So there you have it: David = Da-vi-do.

Katakana variation will vary for names, since some people will prefer to translate the word based on the actual spelling; others will translate the word based on the phonetic sounds in speech.

 

I found a good website but i don't know if my name would be in Romanji which is Eban or if i should just use the reading thing which is wakai, like i though.

 

If your name is Evan, it would be exactly the same in Japanese because it's possible to say using their alphabet.

Evan = E-va-n or エヴァン

i.e. Evan in romanji would be exactly the same.

 

that is weird, beacuse it said my name in Romanji would be pronounced differently. Except, either way, it still means "youthful" in Japanese( and Welsh, the language i was named the from)

 

It would be pronounced differently. 'Evan' can be pronounced differently depending where you're from. Even though it's spelled exactly the same (in Romanji), the way it's said would be different.

As well, what you're trying to do is cross-culture word derivatives to find a Japanese equivalent, but that doesn't work very well.

If your name means "youthful" in Welsh, then 'wakai' like you said earlier makes sense because it means 'young' in Japanese. However, you have to consider cultural context.

Although definitively correct, 'Wakai' on its own would be a strange Japanese name to have because it doesn't follow the naming system culture the country follows.

You can call yourself "Wakai" if you're absolutely bent on it, but if you were to go to Japan, people would call you Evan (in Japanese alphabet/pronunciation), not Wakai.

 

So, how would it be pronounced in Romanji?

 

Most North Americans would pronounce Evan as Eh-vehn.

The Japanese would pronounce Evan as "Eh-va-n"

Not a big difference, but the vowel discrepancies are what make it so. Your name (if it's Evan) isn't all that deviant since none of the spelling really changes.

Dorothy however, would be pronounced "Doh-ro-shee" in Japanese.

 

So it would be like 3 syllables? E- va- en?

 

"E-ba-n", you mean?

Yes...

Eh-bah-nu

エバン

 

Okay i get it...thanks guys!

 

Katakana alphabet has several extensions.

This includes va (ヴァ）, ve（ヴェ）, vi（ヴィ） vo（ヴォ）vu（ヴ）fa（ファ）fe（フェ）fi（フィ）fo（フォ） and a crap load more.

As well, using 'nu' is unnecessary. Why use 'nu' when 'n' is perfect for ending the word Evan?

Three syllables: E-va-n.

In Japanese, vowels on their own take up one syllable.

 

Oh... The "nu" part was just a habit of mine whenever I write out pronounciation...

I say "n" as "nu" if it's at the end of a word. ._o
People know what I mean though.

My friend says that the "va ve vi etc." extensions were added sometime a couple of years ago. How was I supposed to know? XD I took Japanese in Elementary school when I was 7 (I moved before we got past Hiragana and Katakana) and I never learned about those.

 

But aren't you still 'using' Japanese now? Translating your Riku Rebirth, for example.

Those extensions weren't around when I first took Japanese too, but isn't it good to be up to date with a language you use?

 

So it is how i though it was pronounced? Like with the n being pronounced en? Ok thank you!