The only time I have ever seen this reading for moon was with the Japanese
pronunciation of the Death Note character, Light, who's first name is written
with the word moon. I want to know if the reading "raito" for moon was used
before Death Note was created or did the author specifically made up the
reading to name their character after?
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2014-08-21T11:32:47.877
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2019-03-23T21:39:45.200
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kanji readings
Was the Japanese reading "raito" for moon, ever been used before Death Note came to existence?
I can't say anything authoritative about whether it has _ever_ been used that
way, but at least based on [this
site](http://dqname.jp/index.php?md=view&c=ra310) that lists unusual names,
people seem to be very surprised that someone might actually use that name for
someone.

Outside the context of names I do not know of any prominent usages of it that
way, however my knowledge is by no means exhaustive. I'd say that it's likely
that the author chose that name to be かっこいい and that if any previous
occurrences existed it would have been coincidence.

It's also worth mentioning that you will not find this usage in any dictionary
or name kanji dictionary.
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2014-08-21T11:36:33.127
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No, the main character of _Death Note_ might be the very first person with the
name 月【ライト】 (although there is no way to confirm this).

Of course no dictionary says "月" can be read as ライト. But in Japan, it is
_legal_ to name a person using simple kanji, and specify its readings freely.
If they really wish, parents _can_ ignore what kanji dictionaries say about
readings.

Typical Japanese "unusual names"
([DQNネーム/キラキラネーム](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/DQN%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0))
are those which look like normal Japanese words but their readings come from
Western words, such as 「火星【マーズ】」 or 「不死鳥【フェニックス】」. Those unusual names do
happen occasionally in reality, but in manga and games, authors often create
strange names to avoid conflict with real names or names from other works.

As for 月, I wouldn't be very surprised if there were a few real people
somewhere in Japan with unusual names like 「月【ルナ】」 , 「月【ムーン】」, 「月女神【アルテミス】」.
「月【ライト】」 is also legal, but "月" and "ライト" (either it's _right_ or _light_ )
has no direct link, so I doubt if there was a person with such a name before
_Death Note_.
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2014-08-22T02:35:11.003
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