We are super, unreasonably picky about names. But maybe this group of name-nerds gets it?
In our family, we have Japanese first names and Western middle names.
The Japanese first names need to be easy for Americans to pronounce correctly when they see it, and easy to understand when they hear it.
The Western middle names need to be uncommon but easy, with a preference toward non-biblical, non-trendy. The very trendy names that remind me of ill-behaved, smartphone-addicted summer camp kids and will sound very dated just turn my stomach. To be blunt.
So, question #1: [name_m]How[/name_m] would you pronounce Kazu?
Question #2: Any suggestions for a Japanese first AND/OR Western middle for boy? Or girl, but we have at least one option chosen for girl and none yet for boy.
Our son’s middle name is [name_m]Desmond[/name_m].
My husband and I speak Japanese so I’ll leave question one alone.
My Japanese suggestions would include:
Isao
[name_u]Kai[/name_u]
[name_m]Kenji[/name_m]
Kenta
[name_f]Kei[/name_f]
[name_f]Senna[/name_f]
[name_m]Issey[/name_m]
[name_f]Ryo[/name_f]
Taku
[name_m]Hiro[/name_m]
I think it’s best to avoid the third or fourth syllable as that seems to be where most native English speakers get tripped up. They will start putting emphasis in weird places.
I also think it’s best to avoid the -suke, -rou, -tsuma, etc. Suffixes make everything more difficult. Although I knew a family who had a son named Tatsuma and they anglicized it to Tatsma and people stopped having trouble pronouncing it. That’s the same reason for which I included [name_m]Issey[/name_m] as a spelling of Issei; I think it’s a lot more intuitive for native English speakers who don’t have familiarity with Japanese names.
I knew a Japanese-American family of Scottish origin who named their son Keigon. The mom spoke Japanese with the children, so she pronounced it intuitively in Japanese, while the English-speaking Dad pronounced it more like [name_u]Keagan[/name_u].
I like these combos:
[name_f]Senna[/name_f] [name_m]Rupert[/name_m] (studious, soft-spoken)
Kazu [name_m]Maxwell[/name_m] (curious, outgoing)
Isao [name_m]Ross[/name_m] (friendly, humble)
[name_m]Issey[/name_m] [name_u]Douglas[/name_u] (brave, intelligent)
[name_f]Senna[/name_f] is actually on my list, but my dad and sister, medical professionals in Japan and the US, both said independently that the laxative [name_f]Senna[/name_f] is very commonly used by their patients. :o
I do like
Kazu/Kahzu (theory is the h will prevent “kazoo” mispronunciation)
Mikazu
Pretty much anything with Kazu (my aunt is [name_f]Kazuko[/name_f]), but if three syllables, the “ka” in the middle
Kiyu
Seita
Matsuya/Matsya (fish avatar of [name_m]Vishnu[/name_m] in Sanskrit = bonus)
And of course I like old-timey names like Masanobu and Kamenosuke, but unless we are willing to do a difficult name with a nickname, those are out.
Completely feel you on the third syllable. I like Kazuya but Americans say kuh-ZOO-yuh, which is much less attractive.
As for western names, I like names that are
way too Italian for an [name_f]Asian[/name_f] kid to carry – [name_m]Enzo[/name_m] (so easy for Japanese!) and [name_m]Vincenzo[/name_m], [name_m]Alessandro[/name_m]
way too popular – [name_u]Elliott[/name_u], [name_m]Milo[/name_m], [name_m]Oliver[/name_m], [name_u]Owen[/name_u], [name_u]Jude[/name_u], [name_f]Marlo[/name_f], [name_u]Percy[/name_u]
too biblical – [name_m]Solomon[/name_m]
too religious/[name_f]Indian[/name_f] – Chetan ([name_m]Chet[/name_m]), [name_m]Arjun[/name_m]
So far [name_u]Sage[/name_u] is a front-runner for middle name…
Thread title is “Japanese and Celtic” so are you looking for a Celtic name? If so what about the following boys names;
[name_m]Cian[/name_m] (kee-an)
Naoise (nee-sha)
[name_m]Ultan[/name_m]
[name_m]Odhran[/name_m] (O-ran)
Rían (ree-an)
Oisín (ush-een)
Ferdia
[name_u]Fionn[/name_u] (fyun)
I would pronounce Kazu KAH-zu (with the u like a short “oo”, a bit like the u in “put”).
I’m not American, though. Apologies if these are not ‘proper’ Japanese names - I’m mostly going off the names of Japanese-Australian people I know:
I think [name_m]Kenji[/name_m], [name_m]Kenzo[/name_m] and [name_u]Ren[/name_u] are easily to pronounce for English speakers. I like [name_m]Hiro[/name_m] too - some people might pronounce it HIGH-ro, but it shouln’t be too hard to correct.
For girls, [name_f]Hana[/name_f], [name_f]Nomi[/name_f], [name_u]Mika[/name_u] and [name_u]Yuki[/name_u] are easy for English speakers.
Some middles for Kazu - Celtic but easy to say for Americans:
I quite like [name_m]Finian[/name_m], [name_m]Finnegan[/name_m] and [name_m]Fintan[/name_m] as middles - they’re familiar/intuitive enough for most English speakers to pronounce, but less common than [name_u]Finn[/name_u]. Unlike many Celtic names, they’re fairly straightforward to spell and have a long history of use but don’t feel dated yet. [name_m]Duncan[/name_m] is another possibility - it ranks in the 800s now, and has been in the bottom half of the top 1000 names in the USA for over a hundred years (the highest it got was in the 400s), so it’s familiar but has never been super popular.
For what it’s worth, [name_u]Percy[/name_u] doesn’t crack the US top 1000 (as a first name), so it’s not super popular. [name_m]Even[/name_m] [name_m]Milo[/name_m] is only in the 400s.
From PP’s suggestions of Japanese names [name_m]Akio[/name_m], [name_u]Kai[/name_u], and Kenta strike me as the easiest.
For what it’s worth, here are some male Western names used by my [name_f]Asian[/name_f] husband’s family: [name_u]Kieron[/name_u], [name_f]Frances[/name_f], [name_m]Antonio[/name_m], [name_u]Madison[/name_u]… so it really runs the gamut. I don’t think you need to restrict yourself or eliminate your Italian favorites. Although I do love [name_u]Sage[/name_u]!
