Did you have a name?…
Goma-chan still doesn`t have a definite name. He has a definite middle name which I am happy with and it was always going to be the middle name as it was my dad`s middle name and my grandfather`s first name and Shun likes it. I know it is very traditional to have a “family name” like that but we are both happy with the choice and the truth is the embassy won`t let us add it to the passport anyway so it will just be a figure name that we use but probably won`t be on any official documents unless he applies for a name change later on.
I am a big believer that the name you give a child should reflect his personality- and while I completely understand those that have decided on definite names for their children before they are born I just don`t think I can do it. I mean sure we have our favourites but until I see him I am not sure I can give him a definite first name. Is this strange?
Did you have a name picked out well before birth? Did any of you have a name and then change at the last minute?
We have three names picked out, all with kanji decided (2 of the names are western, one is Japanese but all can have kanji)- one that is a definite favourite that we both really like so I am pretty sure that will be his name but we might change our minds once he is born. I know that children “grow” into any name that you give them but what if he really doesn`t look like the name you have picked out. Sure babies change but you might just look at them and think “nope, that name won`t work”…
My parents didn`t have my name 100% picked out when I was born- firstly because they didn`t know if I was a boy or a girl and secondly because I think there was some argument about my mum wanting to use my middle name as a first name but my dad disagreeing. My mum on the other hand was actually given another name (when she was born) but when her father went to register her he forgot what it was and ended up giving her the same name as my grandmother but with a different spelling. In fact she went by the other name for like 6 weeks until my grandfather remembered to tell my grandmother that he had made a mistake and registered her with a different name….
Everyone calls the baby Goma-chan- even still now (some say Goma-kun)…even my mum calls him Goma (although she has been hassling me to decide on a name and she knows the couple we like and has already told others that she thinks it will be our favourite one…hopefully she will not mind so much if we change our minds.haha! My father calls him weird Italian names like Jiavani and Jeseppi because he thinks we should really add something to the mix and give him an Italian name. We are not in anyway Italian)… So it isn`t as if he doesn`t have a name we will call him when he is born. I am pretty sure that Goma-chan or Goma-kun will stick for awhile….my nickname, Lulu, I have had since I was a baby and it has stuck for 24 years!
So do you have names picked out for your future kids with no possibility of changing them? Or did you when they were born? Shun & I talked about names before we were even married and a couple of the girls ones stuck and made it to our favourites list but only one of the boys one`s made it this far (well it is similar to one we liked first off) and it is not our favourite anymore…
What about your own name? Did your parents have it decided before you were born?
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Oooh! The name thing! It is very hard. We didn’t have Julian’s name picked out, we thought he would be Jiro but when he came out he just did not look like a Jiro. We had discussed Julian but had no kanji for it, so my MIL decided that. Which was a mistake because his kanji is really hard to write!
Then we had Meg and could not decide on a name at all. We were going to go with Fiona but when she came out she did not look like a Fiona at all. She looked like a Meg but I wanted to give her a full name and Margaret is unpronounceable in Japanese. My husband decided on Megumi 3 days after she was born- mostly because the stroke number was lucky (he’s a superstitious git). About 3 hours after we told everyone her name we both remembered Noemi, which really suits her, but were too embarassed to change it. I kind of wish we had so she wouldn’t have quite so Japanese a name, but now we are used to Meg. Next baby will have to be a Noemi.
I understand. Though we picked “Missha” when I was about 6/7months Tetsu still wanted to make sure she “looked like a Missha.” Thankfully she did, because there we NO other names we both liked and it would have been hell trying to find a new name within 2 weeks of meeting her! lol
My parents waited on the sex, but had both Khea and Joshua picked out for me early on. They heard Khea on tv and knew instantly that it would suit me (if I were indeed a girl) For my sister though they chose Taylor if she were a boy or girl but the minute my dad saw her he just yelled “CASSIDY!” and everyone agreed that was who she should be. Guess it can work either way?
Can’t wait to see what Goma-chan turns out to be called!
I think it’s quite common for parents-to-be to be completely set on one name for their child, so absolutely certain about it, and then when they see their baby to change their minds. I think most recently my cousin was going to name her baby girl Lily, until they saw her and thought she looked too cheeky for a name like that and called her Molly instead.
As for me, I think my parents were expecting a girl and were going to call me Catherine. In the end, I’m glad they didn’t call me that.
When Goma-chan arrives, you will just know what to call him
we had definitely decided on all three names, though tommy was a few days before he was born! LOL nothing needed to be changed once they were born, but maybe that’s because i don’t know what the japanese meanings really are and thought they were beautiful! the middle names were easy, except for tommy, and that was definitely a last minute name.
I have decided my child’s name will be Zinc. Zinc Taylor. In fact, I might even change my own name to that.
Either way, I think mum and dad must have been struck with a terrible case of unoriginality when they decided to name me. Coincidentially, it means “small” whereas I, standing at 6′8,” am anything but. Sigh.
Really interesting to read all these replies! We had Annie’s name sorted as she was named after(kind of!) my Godmother,Anita,who died before she was born.The kanji was only decided after she was born.
Emilie was a bugger to decide on ;we all(me,DH and Annie) wanted Emma for ages but I suddenly thought that it was just too popular in the UK.But in retrospect,who cares? One big reason for Emilie was that we could use Millie …but as she is known as Emilie in Japanese(not into the nickname thing here eh!) she is more and more an Emilie rather than a Millie.Dear me,all most confusing;)
And we have always had a boys name picked out but wonder if we will ever use it…I rather doubt it but again,it is a “family” name so was so easy.
Best of luck Lulu and Shun!!
We must have snuck in before the embassy stopped middle names as both Meg and Amy have them. Meg was easy as I love the name Meg, K liked Megumi and we eventually found a kanji not used by any of his gazillion relatives- very important to him but tricky with 13 kids on dads side and 5 on mums… her middle name is Mary and she’s the 4th generation of oldest daughter with that middle name so that was a cynch, too.
Amy K wanted to have another name that ended in mi and was one kanji so it matched Meg’s. The kanji are also both to do with flowers as is Heather so he was thrilled on that count, too. Her middle name is pretty horrendous- Ethel- but it’s my grandma’s name and I wanted to honour her. Backfired a bit as she has her grandmothers ahhh tenacious attitude….
Both names evolved while I was pregnant. It’s funny that K had a boys name settled before he even met me and yet never got to use it.
Can’t wait to hear what you decide on!
S and I have had a bit of a talk about names for potential future sproglets, and we have a girl’s name that we both like but I wouldn’t say we’re going to be one of those 100% must use it people. I will start to put proper thought to it if/when I actually am expecting! I also have a traditional Japanese name that I LOVE but it’s seasonal and difficult to pronounce for anyone not used to Japanese so I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to use it. As for boys, I love the big long 4-syllable traditional names but not too sure that S would go for any of them…
Funny you should mention the Italian thing – I am Italian on my dad’s side, and my nonna (gran) was insistent that if I was a boy I was going to be called Duilio after my late nonno (grandad). Thank goodness I turned out to be a girl! Still got an Italian name but it could have been a lot worse…
I’m sure you know but we had Sakura’s name picked out forever and a day.. or well I did. Since she was a girl I got naming rights!! And as you know we have our boy name picked (by Ryohei) as well….
If we have another girl though I keep flip flopping all over the place so it might just end up as a wait and see when shes born.
I’m pretty sure I know at least 2 of your choices… I thought I knew all 3 but I thought it was 2 Japanese-y ones starting with the same letter and 1 western 1… maybe I was wrong? Either way I’m sure one of them will be a good fit when he does come out!! I can’t wait to hear what you choose!
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LOL, there’s something about those “Meg” babies! We argued for 9 full months about our Meg’s name, I was dead set that she would be Rebekah! After all, I was the one going through the torture of pregnancy and delivery! That should at least earn me naming rights! Her dad wanted Megan, which I hated! So she was Rebekah to me all along…..but the instant I saw her face, she was Meg. I can’t explain it, but she just didn’t look like a Rebekah
but looked exactly like a Meg!
Poor Ethan, there were 7 of us arguing over his name. Finally we all just put our favorite name in a hat and let the youngest draw one out for his first name, then another for his middle name I wanted to name him Ozzie, which I still love and think would have been perfect for him!
For Gabi, I just always loved the name Gabrielle, and thankfully she looked like a Gabi when she was born (and has definitely lived up to that nickname!) Her dad and I couldn’t agree on her middle name, so she got them both!
I personally want to give any child(ren) we have, a Japanese name, but one that is not so long as some you’d see over in Japan. Takeshi tells me that longer names are usually names that are kind of old-school? Lol. Anyway, the point is to pick a Japanese name that people in the U.S. will not get tongue-tied with. A 2 syllable name or whatnot.
My parents actually were going to name me ‘Alison’. But they couldn’t find a middle name that would flow right with that. They also liked the name ‘Laura’! So they ended up switching and made my first name Laura and Alison became my middle name.
We came up with Alex`s name before she was born. I was wondering if hubby had wanted a Japanese name, but he was dead set on having an Italian/European name. We went through a huge list of boys and girls names and when we found out we were having a girl, we both decided, (well, hubby said, what about Alexandra)…and I loved it, no doubt or hesitation.
A lot of people do ask if she has a Japanese name as well, (guess Alexandra is hard to pronounce)..but a lot are surprised when we say no. It just didn`t seem to fit for us. But for all the oldies in our neighborhood, she is just A-chan
We’re pretty hopeless with names. We had DS’s Chinese name picked out maybe by the 7th month or so, but we flip flopped on the English name a lot. We finally compromised on Dylan, which was actually DH’s choice — he wanted to name him Bob Dylan at first, lol. With this one we’re about a month away and still have no definite name. We have some rough ideas for the Chinese name, and I have an English girl’s name that I like, but for an English boy’s name, I have no clue. I sort of wish Chinese lent itself better to just having one name, but names here, unlike Japanese names, are fairly unpronounceable by English speakers, as there are a load of sounds in Chinese that we don’t really have in English, not to mention the tones and all that. DS’s Chinese name is Wang Chong Xiao — most people would mangle the Xiao part especially. The girl’s name we need to use in Chinese would start with Wang Cui … and again, that Cui would not fly. I can see people saying it like “Kay” or “Kway” when actually it is more like “tsway.” So this time since we don’t know the sex we not only have to choose Chinese and English names, but boy’s and girl’s names, so 4 names in total!
All that said, we very rarely call DS by his given name. In fact, I am pretty sure he doesn’t even know his given name. We call him by his nickname 99.9% of the time! I suppose he’ll have to learn his real name before he goes to school!
Such interesting comments on this post!
We had Ali’s name picked out, and were 99% sure on it, but we had a couple of other names as back ups in case it felt wrong when he was born. We hadn’t told anyone our short list names, because I didn’t want negative feedback. And also I am kind of superstitious, so I didn’t want to start using his name until after he arrived safely.
I was keen to have names picked though, because my brother and sister in law have taken 3 or 4 weeks to name all their babies and it makes it hard work… you get used to calling them “Baby”, and all their cards etc. just say “Dear Baby”. Luckily Ali looked like an Alistair Luke, so we were able to have him named right away, and tell people the name when we rang to let them know he had been born.
Lulu, this is such a fun question!!
Our daughter’s names are Emilia Claire, Misaki Elisabeth, Sakura Nicole and Natsuki Sofia.
When I was pregnant with Emi, we decided not to find out if we were having a boy or a girl so we had to decide on names for both. We were living in the US at the time so we searched and searched for a book of Japanese baby names but couldn’t find anything so I had to rely on Chikara. We never found a Japanese name for a girl and I had always loved Emilia, which would also work in Japanese, so we went with that. But I’m so glad we didn’t have a boy because now that I’ve lived in Japan for awhile I now know that the names Chikara chose were ridiculous! Also, I really wanted Katherine for a middle name but Chikara had had too many Katherine’s for guitar students and they were all weird so he was totally against it but even now I wish I had just gone with it.
When I was pregnant with Misaki we found out ahead of time that she was a girl so we only had to choose one name. This time the tricky thing was deciding if we should go with another Western name that worked in Japanese or choose a Japanese name that worked in English. We ended up with two names but when she was born she just looked like Misaki and we both knew it right away. Also when I was pregnant with her the September 11 attack in New York happened and because of that I really wanted to include the word “hope” in her name. When Chikara started searching for her name I liked Misaki right away but when he told me her name could have the kanji for hope in it, I was totally sold. Afterwards I found out the the middle name Elisabeth has been used for five generations in my family (including me) so I was glad we used it for her.
Sakura’s name came quickly to us. I debated for awhile between Yume and Sakura so I asked my Japanese friends what they thought and everyone said Sakura right away. The only thing I didn’t realize is that Sakura is usually given as a name to girls born in April so I get asked a lot if that’s when she was born. Now I answer that she was born in June but we chose her name in April and that seems to satisfy everyone. Also Chikara researched kanji for her name and came up with 咲良 (blossoming of good) which made it perfect.
We ran out of energy for choosing names with deep meaning when we found out we were pregnant with Natsuki! My husband was very picky about meaning and especially the relationship of meanings between the first and middle names while I was picky about how they sounded together. Chikara spent days at the library looking at names but Natsuki was the only one I liked. When he told me that one possible meaning was “summer princess” I wanted that because my name Sarah means “princess” and my grandpa always called me his princess.
If we had had a boy I probably would’ve tried to use the kanji of Chikara’s name (力) to create a name for him. But seriously my husband chose the oddest names and I’m glad I didn’t have to fight with him over it!!!
Now that our children have grown into their names I can’t imagine having named them anything else. I’m sure you’ll choose the right name!
I have loved reading all the comments on this!! I t has been interesting to read why and how names were chosen!!
As you know, we have had one boys name and one girls name picked out forever and ever. They both are names that neither of us have comprised with each other on. They both were originally my idea but Naoki loved them the moment he heard them. I don’t know what we are going to do with our 2nd or 3rd child (especially if they are boys) because we just can’t choose. The poor baby will probably still nameless till the last minute, lol!
I love all 3 names that you have picked out and know that one of them will definitely fit your beautiful little boy!! Can’t wait to find out which one it ends up being!!
I don’t have any kids yet, but I do have a couple of stories about when my sisters and I were born and how we got our names.
Originally my dad wanted to call me ‘Rock’ if I was a boy (i know!!) and Jolene if I was a girl. My mum wasn’t keen on the boy’s name but was quite happy with Jolene, as there was a popular song called Jolene around that time. However, when I was born mum decided that she didn’t like Jolene and I was nameless for a few weeks until I got the name Jessica. I was apparently quite the grumpy crier at the hospital and as my last name starts with R, the nurses nicknamed me JR after the guy from Dallas. Luckily, that nickname wore off quite quickly, but because I didn’t have any hair until I was a year old, my dad called me Spud, which has stuck. Also, when my youngest sister started talking she couldn’t say my name so she called me Jedi which has also stuck. So not many people in my family actually use my real name even now!
When my middle sister was born, my parents had decided definitely that her name would be Michelle but the hadn’t decided on a middle name. There was a really nice nurse at the hospital named Kim who helped my parents a lot so they gave my sister that as her middle name, even though she was a complete stranger!
When my little sister was born, my parents were humming and haaring over the girls name. They were going to give her my dad’s middle name (Stephen) if she was a boy, but were deciding between Rachel and Stephanie. They had told us the two girl’s choices but when mum went into labour they hadn’t told us that they’d definitely decided on Stephanie. So when we got a phone call saying that my sister had been born, we started calling the people we had on the list to tell. We told everyone that Rachel had been born and everyone started sending cards and flowers to Mum and baby Rachel….at first mum and dad were wondering who Rachel was because they’d already been calling her Stephanie for a few days!
We decided to give our kids only one name as I don’t have a middle name, (which has caused trouble in the UK at school in the past!) so it would seem odd to suddenly give our kids a list of names.
If we’d had a girl, I wanted very much to call her Kirie, so am sad that I never had a chance to use that.
We also wanted to mess with the “male” and “female” images of names here, so would have given a girl very strong masculine kanji, and for the boys we chose more graceful, gentle characters.
My husband is Seiju, a pure tree. Our family name is “small wood”. His mother wanted to plant a tree in that wood. I liked the idea she had so we followed on with it.
Our elder son is Yoshiki, a graceful tree. The kanji for grace is always used for women and is usually read as “Toshi”
Our second son was going to be Haruki. I wanted the “hareteiru” (sunny) kanji but Seiju won and got the “spring” kanji because he loves the shape of it. So he is a spring tree. However, the day that he was born my husband decided suddenly to change the order of the characters round to celebrate the fact that the baby had been born safely despite being premature, with severe placenta previa and he was also the wrong way round inside me, so Seiju decide his name should be upended too! So he’s now Kiharu. Except that we all call him Harry!
What I forgot to mention is that for a while I’ve thought if I was to ever have a daughter, I’d like to call her Elizabeth. Mostly because I like the shortenings of it — Ellie, Lizzie, Beth etc — rather than the full name. In the UK, at least, there’s a trend to dispense with full names and just call a child “Ricky” or “Alfie” without it being short for anything. It seems a bit chavvy to me, but times move on…
We had our son’s name picked out quite soon after we found out we were having a boy. I have always liked the name Liam and as it works in Japan too I could convince hubby to go with it. I still love it and it really suits him but I cringe every time his baachan calls him Amu kun!
We have a boy’s and girl’s name tentatively chosen for no. 2 as well! Hub thinks that foreign sounding names are cooler so I basically get to decide and he either yays or nays it.
My parents were apparently going to call me Blair if I was boy. No offence to any Blairs out there but I’m glad I wasn’t
Looking forward to hearing what you decide on for Goma chan! Boys names are definitely tough!
We still have not decided on Chan chan’s name, yet.
We will also have a look at baby’s face first, so you are not the only one there.
Joey was always going to be Joey. My paternal Grandfather was called Joseph and my primary school was called St Joseph’s and my confirmation name is Josephine so I wanted some version of Joseph as his name. Joseph is hard in Japanese and D thought Joe was “too Japanese” so we agreed on Joey. His middle name is Kyousuke which I don’t really like for various reasons but D had set his heart on using it for Joey’s middle name (the suke is from Daisuke..) so I let him go with that. Joey was Joey from the second he was born and there is no doubt in the world that the name suits him to a T. I got alot of stick for giving him a “nickname” instead of a “proper name” but even the people who commented at the beginning now agree that Joey is the perfect name for him.
I think I would have a hard time choosing a name for a baby now though as I could use any name from any language, it wouldn’t matter if it worked with Japanese pronunciation or not! I have always loved the names Aurora and Cordelia but they just don’t work well in Japan! 
I think my parents had a harder time with my name. They wanted to call me either Midori or Sakura apparently (my Grandma had given them Japanese name suggestions and those were the two they liked) and in the end they chose Midori because it was easier to say. Apparently my Mum had tried to convince my Dad to call me Hope Diamond at one point of the pregnancy though.. not sure where she got that idea from. If I had been a boy I would have been Kentaro apparently.. to this day I am SO relieved that I turned out to be a girl..