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Besides the obvious 'snow', someone listed the name Yuki on a name website as
also meaning happiness, blessing, or good fortune using the characters 幸き.
Dictionaries list that 幸 can become こ / さき / さし / さっ / とも / ひろ / みゆき / ゆ / ゆき
/ よし. Yu and Yuki are listed at the end, but is it accurate to say that this
name means happiness?
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2018-06-26T15:04:50.450
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2018-06-26T16:25:25.797
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meaning names
Does 'yuki' really mean happiness?
I have found that sometimes parents are very creative with their use of kanji
when naming children. You see a similar thing happen in the United States when
people start getting creative with the spelling of names (like Aleks instead
of Alex).

Jisho.org says the [kanji](https://jisho.org/search/%E5%B9%B8%20%23kanji)
means the following: `happiness, blessing, fortune`.

You ask:

> Yu and Yuki are listed at the end, but is it accurate to say that this name
> means happiness?

I say that you are quite possibly right, but it may be difficult to know for
sure without having talked to the parents. I would imagine that your
understanding is correct though.
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2018-06-26T15:12:53.340
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> Does 'yuki' really mean happiness?

I feel like this is a loaded question, so let's break it down.

  * The character 幸 means "happiness".

  * If the name ゆき is written using this kanji, then it also means "happiness". 

  * ゆき by itself does not necessarily mean anything—ゆ and き simply represent sounds.

    * However, context could easily provide a meaning to those sounds, and ゆき as a word has several different meanings.
    * If you knew someone named 'Yuki' who spelled it simply ゆき (or possibly ユキ), it might not have any meaning.
  * If you see someone's name written as 幸, [you'd be wise not to assume it's read as ゆき (or anything else)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/5532).
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2018-06-26T16:24:21.263
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The question is asking about the word `yuki` and its relation to the meaning
`happiness`. Kanji spellings do not always reflect the meaning of a word.

Looking up `yuki` in several monolingual dictionaries, we find other words
pronounced `yuki`, such as 裄 (some part of a kimono) or 斎木 (some tree used in
rituals), but these do not seem to be related.

The word 幸 with the reading `saki` or `sachi` means `happiness`, `fortune`,
`luck` (or [products of the
sea](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%B5%B7%E5%B9%B8-441491#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89)).
This reading is closer to `yuki`, but offers no explanation how we would get
from `saki` to `yuki`.

Now, checking a kanji dictionary for 幸, it lists the reading `miyuki` as a
kunyomi (Japanese) reading for the kanji; and elaborates on its meaning:

> みゆき。天子が出かけることをいう敬語。▽思いがけないさいわいの意から。 (学研漢和大字典)

That is, `miyuki` is a respectful expression referring to the emperor going
outside or taking a trip. Furthermore, the dictionary attributes the kanji
spelling to it being a metaphor for likening the emperor showing himself in
public as an unexpected ― but _fortunate_ ― happening.

The word `miyuki` seems to me to be a combination of the honoric prefix 御【mi】
and 行【yu】き (noun form of `yuku`, to go). Checking a dictionary such as the
大辞泉, they seem to agree.

This also nicely separates the word into the two parts `mi` and `yuki`. So my
assumption is that the reading `yuki` derives from a shortening of `miyuki`.
In this case, I'd say it is related to happiness, but does not mean that.

As for personal names, if the parents give their child a name that is read
with `yuki` and spelled with `幸`, there is a good chance they intend the
meaning of `happiness` and I guess in that sense it could be said to mean
happiness.
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