Japanese name if no Japanese heritage

[SpacePie]

I love the gentle sound of many Japanese names.

What names could pass in the UK without raising eyebrows at the fact that neither myself or my husband are Japanese.

I must admit it's studio Ghibli that inspires this love, but many don't seem to be pronounced how they're spelled:

Satsuki
Sôsuke
Arietty
Kiki

I am fairly sensible and wouldn't want to land a baby with an impossible to spell / pronounce name so I'm all ears to England friendly suggestions.

I thought the same when I was in Hong Kong and China (I worked there for years) , I learnt that it is not their real name (at least not for any that I met) but many hong kong or Chinese people will give themselves an English name when learning English or a Japanese name if they learn Japanese (or even just visit Japan often / have Japanese friends) they do this because they think their Cantonese or mandarin name is too hard for foreigners to pronounce and will use their English or Japanese name when studying abroad , talking to foreigners or working in international companies but they will still keep their Chinese name for other uses.

Naomi from the Hebrew and from the Japanese are two different names I think. Different meanings.

That would almost certainly have been their Westernised/Anglicised name (despite being Japanese), not their "real" name. People from HK, Malaysia and Singapore have names that go "[Western name] [Surname] [Cantonese/Chinese name]" in that order.

Sorry, I didn't mean "real" name, many would have had these names given at birth. I meant to say the English/Western name is a bit like a middle name. @MRSTokyo

I don’t think it’s a good idea.

Would you call your white kid an African heritage name?

I'm a Kiki!

I think you couid get away with Kiki.
Alternatively, Hana and Naomi are common Japanese names.

@Phos , I doubt that it is of japanese origin. It's probably a western name that works in Japan.

Except a PP pointed out that “imported” names are usually written in katakana and this one is written in kanji or hiragana.

It might be a name that can be written in kanji even though it's mported

Kiki is cute!

But cute isn’t great for a name, I’d say.

@daisypond I disagree. Nicknames as a first name are up in popularity and some people go by nicknames through all ages. I think Kiki feels more like a nickname but totally works as a name today. I don’t think people will connect the name to Japan.

I have a fat cat called Kiki. She's like a little tub of lard.

@Elspethelf , it might work today but not tomorrow

@Situaciones , you know the rule about posts about cats. We need a photo, please.

@KirstenBlest true! I feel very sorry for all the Karen’s, Alexa’s, Chad’s and Brad’s out there.

Also the Elsa’s and Bruno’s etc probably have it a bit tougher too.

I guess you never know what will be a problem tomorrow.

Why do you feel sorry for people with those names? Just normal names, other than Karen, which has been adopted as a misogynistic, ageist, slang word.

Karen is originally danish and a form of Catherine, whch hasn't dated as badly. Names borrowed from other languages tend not too date well (Sonia, Sharon,Maureen, Kevin, Darren etc)

Just normal names, other than Karen

Karen is a normal name. It doesn’t become not normal because of a stupid internet meme.

@Festivemoose , i didn't say it wasn't normal

You said
“Just normal names, other than Karen, which has been adopted as a misogynistic, ageist, slang word”

Maybe I should have posted 'Why should you feel sorry for someone called the completely normal name Karen, other than some ageist misogynistic people use it as an insult?'

I only know one Chad, and thought it was just an unusual saint's name, that happens to also be the name of a country.

@KirstenBlest Karen, Chad and Brad have all become memes. Alexa because of Amazon. Let it go. We don’t talk about Bruno.

It doesn’t matter if a name is ‘normal’ or uncommon, any name could have an additional meaning tomorrow. People should just use the name they like best.

Naomi is an old Japanese name. Names can have different etymologies in different cultures. The Biblical Naomi and the Japanese Naomi are unrelated.

I find it quite odd how you would insist on something not being Japanese over and over again even though you obviously have no idea? It's quite unpleasant.

I'm not insisting it is, just that I'm not convinced that it is.
Can you prove that it's a very old Japanese name?