Explaining kanji in names?!

[alex_2096]

Okay, ive sort of seen this in on tv but i didnt quite get the method you go though to explain the kanji listed in your name. purely as example if someone had the name hinata how would they go about explaining how to 'spell' their name. say it was to contain the kanji 火 but not 費 or 日 and you didnt want the other person getting muddled up with the wrong one. I assume theres a method for this. Any help would be great, cos im really interested in knowing!
~alex~

[witega]

Typically, they reference a common word which uses the kanji in their name unambiguously. So in the above example they would say "'hi' (火) as in 'kaji' (火事)" or something to that effect.

[NocturnalOcean]

I would assume there are 2 ways(maybe more). One is to describe the kanji. What radical, what parts and so on. The other is to give a word with the kanji in it. Just to use the same example as you did. If you said to the other person that you use the 火 that you find in 火事 or similar. Then there should be no problem. Problem might be if there is a lesser known kanji used in mostly names. Then the best way is just to describe it.

[two_heads_talking]

Typically when describing kanji, one would use a "common" or "familiar" pronounciation or reading so that the person hearing the unfamiliar kanji will know which character is being used..

In fact Witega has it almost correct, but the Japanese would use a "fire" character where both are pronounced "hi" rather than one being "hi" and another being "ka".. (of course that is from my own experience, maybe someone else has run into a situation similar to witega's..)

[AJBryant]

Usually, it's just using a word with the kanji. For example, I'd probably say "kaji no hi" -- that is, "the 'hi' in 'fire'." Since kanji have multiple readings, there's no problem saying something like "Tou wa, 'fujiwara' no 'fuji'."

Tony

[Oyaji]

For example, someone named 田中 might say 「田んぼの「た」、中学校の「なか」」.

[Yudan Taiteki]

I know two girls with 華 in their name, and they say that they always try to use 華やかの華 but nobody ever knows what they're talking about, so they have to resort to 中華料理の華.

[AJBryant]

Yudan Taiteki wrote:
I know two girls with 華 in their name, and they say that they always try to use 華やかの華 but nobody ever knows what they're talking about, so they have to resort to 中華料理の華.

Now that's just sad. But in a funny way.


Tony

[Harisenbon]

Speaking of names with rare kanji, my work seems to be a haven for them.

Of the 10 people who work here
春影
華山
狭石
實川
パーハック

[keatonatron]

Harisenbon wrote:
Speaking of names with rare kanji, my work seems to be a haven for them.

Of the 10 people who work here
春影
華山
狭石
實川
パーハック

Guess which one is Harisenbon.

[two_heads_talking]

keatonatron wrote:

Harisenbon wrote:
Speaking of names with rare kanji, my work seems to be a haven for them.

Of the 10 people who work here
春影
華山
狭石
實川
パーハック

Guess which one is Harisenbon.

hmmm the second one? lol...

[Harisenbon]

ACtually, I'm the third one.　パーハック is the name of the pet mouse we keep.

Edit: I had a horrid misspelling of my last name the other day when I bought some show tickets. The envelope had パーファーク written on it.