The name "Keihanshin" is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from "Kyoto" (京都), "Osaka" (大阪), and "Kobe" (神戸), but using the Chinese reading instead of the corresponding native reading for each of the characters taken from "Osaka" and "Kobe", and the "Kan-on" Chinese reading of the character for Kyoto instead of the usual "Go-on" Chinese reading.