I haven’t had to think of baby names for 3 years and now we’re expecting again and are having a difficult time with making a list. We don’t know the sex yet, and since we’re planning on having more children it would be helpful to get ideas for both genders.
The difficulty we’re having is because our son’s name is Kenji. It’s a traditional Japanese name. My husband is half Japanese and we wanted a creative way to honor him; Kenji is an extension of Ken, my husband’s middle name.
Anyways, now we’re having a hard time deciding on if we should keep the Japanese theme or open up our naming possibilities to a wider list, but we’re having a hard time figuring out names that go with Kenji. Also, I’m worried whether a bunch of kids with Japanese names will be too much since they’ll only be 1/4 Japanese.
Here’s the Japanese names we like, so you can get an idea of them with Kenji.
Girls
Sayuri- [name]Little[/name] lily
Ayame- [name]Iris[/name]
Asami- [name]Morning[/name] beauty
Mizuki- Beautiful moon
[name]Chihiro[/name]- A thousand questions/ curious child
Izumi- Fountain
Boys
Sousuke- Can’t remember meaning…
Shun- Quick
Isamu- Brave man
Yuuki- Courage
Naoki- Honest child
For more western names I was thinking they would have to be offbeat, quirky names that aren’t popular, but sound like real names.
Any advice or input on names would be greatly appreciated :D! Thanks!
@kady-- It sounds like [name]Kenji[/name]'s name was special not only due to your husband’s heritage, but also as an honor name given your husband’s middle name. I think your fears re: naming your 1/4 Japanese children exclusively Japanese names make a great deal of sense-- you can be left thinking “where am I reflected in these children”-- particularly if they bear their father’s surname exclusively.
Now, a sibling set of [name]Kenji[/name], [name]Tyler[/name] and [name]Madison[/name] leaves poor [name]Kenji[/name] out on his lonesome, so I’m not suggesting doing a complete 180. I would, however, suggest moving your Japanese favorites to the middle and selecting a name more commonly given here; or, conversely, picking a name which works in English as well as in Japanese. Ideas:
I really love Japanese names. My favorites on your lists are Sayuri, Mizuki, and Naoki (I really love Naoki!).
I like blade’s suggestion; from her list my favorites are [name]Sora[/name], [name]Hana[/name], and [name]Mai[/name]. I’m still thinking about Western names; I will come back to this, though!
[name]Blade[/name]- that’s our biggest fear, picking western names that don’t go at all with [name]Kenji[/name]. My favorite names off your list are [name]Ami[/name] and [name]Ren[/name], but I’ll have to look up the meanings because that’s important to us. We probably won’t do a double name because that’s not really my style. I’m a little unsure of putting Japanese in the middle because we want to use middle position for honoring family. Maybe double middle?
Shellez- those are our favorites, too :). My husband loves Mizuki, but I’m hesitant because our last name starts with M.
I like a lot of names, but I think quirky, offbeat, and rarely used names would go best with [name]Kenji[/name]? Some names we like, but are unsure if they go are: [name]Otto[/name], [name]Hugo[/name], [name]Felix[/name] for boys and seraphina, ottilie, [name]Matilda[/name], [name]Penelope[/name] for girls. None of these are necessarily favorites of ours and I know I’m forgetting some, so any other suggestions would be helpful :).
The middle names will be [name]Francis[/name] for a boy and pearl or [name]Louise[/name] for girls, as we want to keep the theme of honoring family. Our last name is [name]Miller[/name].
Thanks for the names everyone. Baili- my husband loves the name [name]Aiko[/name] and I love [name]Hikaru[/name], but he vetoed it because he hates the way most english speakers pronounce it.
[name]Blade[/name]- [name]Sora[/name] and [name]Ami[/name] are the Japanese names I liked best, though I haven’t brought them up to my husband, yet. Your western suggestions were helpful. We both really adore [name]Esme[/name]. [name]Nico[/name], [name]Milo[/name], and [name]Enzo[/name] are options. I like [name]Remy[/name], but he’s unsure…
Lis- I adore [name]Benno[/name], but if I remember right my husband doesn’t like it at all. [name]Juno[/name] is also going to be put on the list.
Sidenote: After reading your suggestion [name]Blade[/name], about using all Japanese names and my husband thinking his opinions over, he has decided that he doesn’t want Japanese names at all for first names. He wants them western and I agree. So, I’ll probably open a new thread so it’s not confusing to anyone.
Thanks for all your guys help :). Your suggestions have been really appreciated.
