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I know how to read hiragana and katakana, but know nothing else. A lot of
people I know want me to write their names in Japanese. Is it right to write
them in any system, or are there specific rules?
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2012-09-09T19:59:01.267
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2020-12-09T17:48:25.723
2012-09-23T00:02:41.123
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names orthography
Which writing system (hiragana, katakana, or kanji) should we use when writing out someone's name?
Names of Japanese people have a specific spelling that may be in hiragana,
katakana, kanji, or any mix thereof. You should spell their name as it is
spelled, e.g. 「田中けい子」 (TANAKA Keiko).

Names of foreigners are written in katakana, unless they have decided on the
equivalent kanji they want to use. Or if they ask you to choose the kanji then
do so paying attention not only to sound but also meaning when selecting them.
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2012-09-09T21:15:24.203
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2012-09-09T21:15:24.203
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You should keep in mind writing non-japanese names with kanji COULD be seen as
somewhat not in very good taste. While it's there's no universal rule about
it, since some people might see it as ranging from childish to culturally-
insensitive, I'd keep using exclusively katakana for foreign names.

Straying a little from your question, it's generally a nice idea to write
names in whatever script and with whatever spelling they originally are
whenever possible.
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2012-09-09T21:47:43.997
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2012-09-09T21:47:43.997
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Write Japanese names the way how the person who has that name writes it. If
one wants you to write her name as 玲奈 or 麗奈, write it that way. If she doesn't
write it with kanji, then write れな. If she prefers katakana, then write レナ. A
name might use more than one writing system, such as はる香 or マナ美 (I made those
up, but very possibly exists somewhere). Using the wrong writing system for
native Japanese names is just, plain dong it wrong.

So, if you don't know kanji, unfortunately you do have to learn them before
you could correctly write Japanese names, since practically all Japanese names
have kanji in them.

For non-Japanese people, especially those with Western names, the usual way is
to transliterate their names into katakana. If you only know katakana, I
suppose you could write their names correctly.

However, if a person has a name written in Chinese characters in his/her
native language (i.e. a person with Chinese or Korean name), write it with
kanji. The exception is when the person's name contains rare and uncommon
kanji (especially when typing); in this case one has to resort to using
katakana - simply because these characters might not be typable.
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2017-03-09T13:12:20.653
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2017-03-09T13:12:20.653
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