Forum - View topicOver Used Anime Names
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namelissis
 Posts: 219 |
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I'm not sure if there is a thread that is existing here but I was wondering if it brings confusion when sometimes you are lost of the discussion because of the anime's name...
I mean, ok, many people, in other sites use anime names in their usernames... then, you start blabbing and saying oh, your username is the one from that show... Oops, sorry, but I wasn't thinking of that anime, it's from this one... Talk about embarassed... Well, I find Sakura to be overused... I mean, I've encountered too much Sakura in many animes and sakura being used as a username... so, when I see Sakura all I can recall is, ooh you based your name on CardCaptor Sakura!!! And though I know that sakura(cherry blossoms) is an important symbol in Japanese Culture, can't they not make another female name based on other things... Why not make it Hana, or Kokoro?_? And here is why I think sakura is overused... There is sakura in these animes: Card captor sakura Naruto Sakura Taisen Eden's Bowy Tsubasa chronicles well, these is to name some... So which name do you think is overly used in the anime industry? and do you wish that they can come up with other names, so sometimes there would be a variety and can be easily distinguished from other anime characters...?_? |
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coffee
 Posts: 170 Location: Florida |
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Sakura is also the name of the cherry blossom, which the Japanese hold in very high esteem. Many girls are named Sakura in real life, so I can only imagine it would cross over to anime. It's a matter of cultural pride.
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LydiaDianne
 Posts: 5634 Location: Southern California |
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That is very true. Some other names that I seem to hear a lot are Mayu, Yoko, Yuki, Aya and Hikaru. But when I think about it, they are probably the equivalent of Joshua, Jennifer, Michael and Richard. There are always names that you will hear constantly. And that's probably with any country that you go to. I'm sure that any kid, from any country can tell a story about how they had 3 or 4 kids with the same name in a class at one time or another and how they had to be known as: Jennifer C., Jenny A., Jennifer Z., and Jenni Michelle. Actually when I was a kid, I hated! my name because there was no one else in the world that had the same name as me. Now, being older, I appreciate it a great deal more because if someone yells my name out in public, 30 other people don't yell "What?!" |
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1363 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Um... the Japanese are PEOPLE TOO.
Just like in the above post. Every language has its set of common names. Nothing unusual here. 
Hmm. Part of me wonders if the name distribution for other languages is included here. However, I'm willing to make that unlikely as it is based off of the US Census. http://www.thinkbabynames.com/ Also:
Just watch more anime.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11507 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I've always wondered: is there a Japanese equivalent to the American family name "Smith?" There always seems to be that one extemely common last name in whatever culture: Smith, Johnson, Nguyen, Patel, Gonzalez, etc. Seriously, over half of the Vietnamese people I've ever met had the last name Nguyen or Tran, and they had no relation.
Our family name is pretty unique. If you find anyone with it, you can trace it back to Laos, and that's it, just one tree. I've also never heard a single repitition of any family name within the Lao culture. I go by Tony K. simply because my last name is really long. PM me if you're curious on the pronunciation... It's actually pretty simple if you just break it down into phonetics. |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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Don't forget Sakura in Betterman. It is odd that you chose this name since I actually don't know any family or friends who have the name Sakura. It's not as popular Akemi (my sister), Akira, Junko, or Makoto. It seems like one of those names that is more popular in fiction. Arashi is another one that comes to mind, since it can be found in Gad Guard, Paradise Kiss, and X. I don't know anyone who really has this name, but it is such a cool name which fits an action hero and I love the kanji for it.
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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Probably "Sato" or maybe "Yamada". For a "John Smith", "Jiro Sato". |
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Randall Miyashiro
Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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I've known a few Satos and Yamadas, so I believe that they both work well. I believe Nabeshin making fun of Watanabe works well since my grandmother was also a Watanabe. While there are a good number of names that you will find a higher ratio of I can't think of any Japanese last name that is overwhelmingly popular like Smith, Ng, or Wong. |
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Asako
 Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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What used to crack me up is at the beginning of Japanese class we would have to stand up and bow. And our teacher had a little duplo looking doll and named it Tanaka-san and would make it bow back to us. Once he had it sitting on the edge of the chalkboard and he accidentally knocked Tanaka-san over. He then said "Ahh!! Tanaka-san!!" as if there was a lot of distress. It was very silly but I loved that class. Tanaka-san would sit on top of an eraser, or under an eraser, and on the side of the eraser. He would make us recite his location and such.  Very funny. Our teacher was from Japan and probably used the name, not because it was in the texts, but probably because it's a name that is taught to children, much like our picture books during our childhood.
I'm not sure if it's common in Japan, but Nakamoto, Noguchi, Sakamoto, Yamamoto, and Inouye seem to be fairly common. Some more than most I think. Maybe Akemi is overused in anime? I dunno about that... my friend's middle name is Akemi (one of her middle names). Azusa might be up there in common anime names. Kyoko too, maybe. In kyogen, Japanese comedy of sorts, Tarokaja is a very common name 
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Mephistophilus
 Posts: 200 Location: Fresno, CA, United States |
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As for first names, I've seen Keiichi more than a few times, and I seem to notice a lot of similarly named female characters among the more "mainstream" anime. However, I think a lot of these names can be explained away by their original meanings, as some names (Ichigo, Sakura, etc.) can be simply explained as being a part of Japanese culture, with strawberries and cherry blossoms being common.
As for last names, I think the same partially applies, but I do see a lot of the more common names that appear like Inoue, Saito, and Sato. I think these names are commonly shared for the same reason names like "Smith" or "Johnson" are commonly shared, because of old naming conventions that just carried over into the stiffer "directly passed down" naming systems. For instance, Smith would have denoted an original profession of blacksmith, and Cooper would denote an original profession of barrel-maker. Names like "Johnson" and even names from other cultures like the Armenian "Moradian" can just mean "Son of ___" and I guess we see a lot of "Johnsons" and a few of other names because there were a lot of Anglo-Saxon Johns and in Armenia a decent amount of "Morads." Of course, this might not explain naming in all cultures, but I don't know enough about world linguistics to figure that out.
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selenta
Subscriber Posts: 1774 Location: Seattle, WA |
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I agree, those two names are aboslutely ubiquitous in Japanese classes. I don't know quite as much about the others you mentioned, as some of them I've probably only heard once or twice, aside from Yamamoto. There were a few others that come to mind immediately though: Matsuda, Yamaguchi, Kawamura, and Watanabe. Of all those... I'd say either Tanaka or Matsuda for family names. However, given names seems to Taro if you're looking for a generic name (unless Taro has some sort of other implication I'm not aware of). Of course, it just now occured to me to browse the Encyclopedia here for a good estimate 
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Malintex Terek
Guest
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Kaguya, Musashi, and Kojirou. Any name that has histrical/mythical roots is a prime candidate for being "over-used".
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Asako
Posts: 751 Location: Hawaii |
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Like, Momotaro, Kintaro, etc... |
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TestamentSaki
 Posts: 1012 |
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Jun is also a pretty common name. There's a Jun in Martian Sucessor Nadesico, Shaman King, Captain Tsubasa, and I think there was one in Digimon 02 too.
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Nom_Anor
 Posts: 246 |
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I find it hilarious that you mention a character named Sakura in both CCS and Tsubasa Chronicles, when she is basically the same person.
The name that comes to my mind is Yuki, especially since there are several names that are rather similar to it, Nayuki, Yukito, etc. |
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