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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Japanese names that are good in English

64 replies

MamaJapan · 26/01/2019 23:50

Good morning,

I am 32 weeks pregnant with my first baby, we do not know if it is a boy or a girl. My husband and I are Japanese and living in Japan but in June we move to England for my husbands job. We will live there for 2 years to begin with and then my husband can renew his contract every one year.

We wish to name our child a Japanese name that is good in English.

Can you tell me if these names are good and easy to pronounce or any problems you think there might be.

Girls:

Koharu
Haruka
Sakura
Ayaka
Misaki
Fuka
Natsuki
Ichika

Boys:
Haruto
Haruki
Riku
Takumi
Shota
Tatsuki
Itsuki

Please accept my gratitude in advance

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Didiusfalco · 27/01/2019 00:09

Definitely not Fuka, too close to a swear word.
I would probably leave Shota too, as being too close to ‘shot’ in English which is not very nice.
The other names on your list are beautiful though.

SueGeneris · 27/01/2019 00:04

I love Sakura - is it the name of the cherry blossom? Which is so beautiful. My sister had a lovely Japanese school friend (in the UK) named Sakurako.

AuntieOxident · 27/01/2019 00:04

Sakura is lovely - does it mean cherry blossom?

thenightsky · 27/01/2019 00:04

Not Fuka…. the rest are fine.

DaphneCanDoBetterThanFred · 27/01/2019 00:02

Congratulations on your baby and good luck with the move!

I would say all the names except (Fuka - could be misread as a swear word) are lovely. The only problem you might have is people pronouncing names with the wrong intonation. English people might say “Sa-KUUU-ra” instead of “Sa-ku-ra” or “Na-TSOO-ki” instead of “Na-tsu-ki”. Apart from that, I don’t think there would be any problem with pronunciation Smile

SylvanianFrenemies · 27/01/2019 00:02

Congratulations!

Agree that Fuka would not work. All the others are nice. I personally like Shota, Haruki and Sakura.

If you happen to like Naomi or Hana these are also popular names here. However most people are quite open to names from other languages.

Scandaloso · 27/01/2019 00:01

Gorgeous names.

I'd echo the others and steer clear of Fuka because of its similarity to 'fuck'. I can't see any issues with any of the other names and I particularly like Sakura and Haruto Smile

JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff · 27/01/2019 00:00

I would go for Natsuki as she could use Nat for short which is a common English nickname

Of the boy names, Riku would be easiest I think and could use Rick if he wanted.

ItsameAmario · 26/01/2019 23:59

I would also miss Misake

Sounds like a northerner saying my sake (drink)

ginpink · 26/01/2019 23:57

*not Fuka

ginpink · 26/01/2019 23:56

Not Fula

RCohle · 26/01/2019 23:54

I would also advise against Fuka - it sounds similar to a profanity in English. Otherwise I think they are all lovely names.

sonlypuppyfat · 26/01/2019 23:53

Fuka would be difficult, Mai is nice

waryandbored · 26/01/2019 23:51

I would advise against Fuka. The others are all lovely and I think they’re easy to pronounce too.