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I don't actually know Japanese at all, so I'm piecing the following together
as best I can--if someone has a resource for this kind of translation, I would
appreciate it as well as a specific answer, if someone has it.

If someone (female) has the name Kes in English, you would normally write it
in katakana as ケス, "Kesu". However, this sounds the same as the verb 消す which
means something like erase or turn off. So the transliteration of the name
would sound either rather negative or rather scary (or both) as a name for a
person.

Also, the transliterated name gives no suggestion as to the gender of the
speaker, and it sounds like a verb which is awkward, so it would be better,
possibly, to add a more characteristic feminine ending, the least bulky of
which is -e (エ in katakana).

So the most conservative/simpleminded translation of the name (e.g. made by a
child) might be ケスエ, pronounced Kesu-e? Does that work at all? I think one
could write it straightforwardly in hiragana, but maybe not in kanji (or is it
just 消すえ)? And am I correct about the connotation it would have? (Would an
alternate ending avoid the connotation, or is it too obvious? In English, it
doesn't really matter if you name someone Destroya or Destroyelle or
Destroyina...it still sounds very destructive, even if it is clearly a name.)

If the translation were made by someone who is _not_ a child, would there be a
more idiomatic way to do it which would avoid the unfortunate connotation? Is
there a standard practice for this situation? (Of course another option would
be just to abandon the nickname and use something else.)
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2021-05-19T09:17:14.030
86701
2021-05-21T16:04:23.267
43995
question
translation names
Translation of an English nickname into Japanese (and connotations of the translation)
子 has been commonly and widely used for girl's name such as 英子、裕子、愛子 for
abount 100 years.

Nowadays there are thousands of two-syllable+子 nicknames. It's safe to say any
unusual name ends with 子 must be a girl's nickname.

CHANEL=シャネ子 GUCCI=グチ子 COACH=コチ子

ケス子(kesu ko) sounds okay and similarly ケス美(kesu mi) may work.

There is one problem I should notice that 'ゲス'(gesu) means 'asshole' and 'ケス子'
could be misunderstood as 'ゲス子'(asshole girl). Searching 'ゲス子' results several
hits on google(humble joke, I guess). To avoid that, 'けす子'(hiragana instead of
katakana) would be better.

エ(e) sounds old since お多恵(otae),富江(tomie),千鶴枝(chizue) are quite old names.

If you dare want to use 'e', ヱ/ゑ(we) might be interesting. 'ケスヱ' or 'けすゑ',
even 'けすヱ' or 'ケスゑ' (kesw e) looks original.

'けーちゃん' / 'け～ちゃん'(k chan) / 'けすりん' (kesurin) sounds like child's nickname.
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2021-05-21T16:04:23.267
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2021-05-21T16:04:23.267
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answer