わがまま

[Supergrunch]

In a town near where I live, there is a Japanese restaurant called "Wagamama's" (in romaji). I was intrigued as to what this meant, so I was quite surprised that I could find only one meaning- "selfish". This seems an odd choice for the name of a restaurant. Presumably, either there's some kind of idiomatic Japanese joke, they're just having fun because the gaijin won't understand, or there is another meaning of the word that I haven't come across. Could anyone make this any clearer for me?

I am aware that "translation questions" may not be the best board to put this on, but it is a slightly miscellaneous thread, and as the main focus of my question is to make the meaning of a word clearer, I decided to put it here.

ありがとう。

[redfoxer]

wagamama is written in katakana actually. from all the stores ive seen it has been written in katakana.

Taken from wagamama.com FAQ

7 what does wagamama mean

translated from japanese it means ' wilful / naughty child'

[AaRoN]

never though that was real word lol....just though it was something that some1 made up lol

[Supergrunch]

redfoxer wrote:
wagamama is written in katakana actually. from all the stores ive seen it has been written in katakana.

I was thinking more of the Japanese word itself, rather than the name of the restaurant, which would phonetically be written in hiragana (unless it's an import word).

I can't find that FAQ on the website, but from what your quote, it seems that it still doesn't explain the reason for the name.

[Harisenbon]

I know that ramen restraunt, I think. The wife and I went there when we went to london this summer. We were so amused by the title, we both now own Wagamama Tshirts. =)

wagamama means "selfish" more than naughty, which would better be translated as "yancha"

Wagamama can be written as hiragana, katakana or kanji, and I have seen all three in common usage. 我儘. The Wa means self, such as in 我が家　or 我が子. the mama means thought or opinion.

[Supergrunch]

So the title is some kind of joke then?

[Gaijinian]

In our local mall, there is a "Japanese" restaurant called "Sarku." It dirves me crazy!:o