Thread: LH Proper Names and Different Languages

This one has been on my to-do list like forever -- since summer 2008 if not earlier. Now Ammaranth has stopped me to think about it, so...

The phonematical and grammatical structures of my own language definitely resemble Japanese more than they do most major European languages. This sometimes leads to funny coincidences and has inspired lots of "faux Japanese" jokes.

The hardcore example related to Love Hina is the given name Kanako (Japanese meaning debated -- Betong, help!). In Finnish, we have a word form with the exact same syllable structure and practically the same pronunciation: kanako 'a hen?'

Spoiler

Finnish kanako is a compound of the noun kana 'hen, chicken; (in some contexts) gallinaceous bird, fowl' and the clitic (or "suffix particle") -ko/-kö, indicating a question where a question word is not present.

Then Finnish has the word naru 'string, cord; (thin) rope'. Also here the syllable structure is identical to Japanese, but the Finnish pronunciations of u and especially r differ notably from their Japanese counterparts.

I am not sure if there are more exact Japanese-Finnish homonyms in the proper names of LH, but I could go on with strong resemblances that automatically connect in my mind (Narusegawa is a riot).

However, let me first ask you others if you have observed any notable similarities between LH names and words from languages you speak or know!

Well, It's a nice thread, Katajainen.


The word Kanako, in Portuguese, is similar (not equal) to caneca (a type of glass to tea and soda). Now, Motoko is similar to moto, that is how Brazilians call "motorbike", and Seta is arrow in Portuguese.

A curiosity: Kitsune is fox in Japanese, and Volkswagen sells a compact car here in Brazil called Fox.

Kanako in this case is 可奈子 - almost impossible to draw a meaning out of it.

The 可 means 'passable' or 'acceptable' - this is the particle most likely to change in other forms of the name, so if you're going to read into the meaning this would be the best bet.

奈 is most familiar as the 'na' of 'Nara' (奈良). It can also mean 'what'. Compounds include 奈何 (いかん), which roughly means 'how', although that's normally written 如何. Which in turn is normally read いかが. Very, very vague stuff. There's also 奈落 (ならく), which can either mean 'hell' or 'abyss', or indeed 'theatre basement'.

If you ask me, the answer might just lie in A.I ga Tomaranai!. The main character in that series is called Kobe Hitoshi (神戸 仁 - 神戸 being the kanji for the City of Kobe). He has a sister, 2 years his junior, with a bit of a brother complex. She goes by the name of Kobe Yayoi (神戸 弥生). It may be coincidence, but the similarity between Kobe and the usage of the 'na' from Nara in Kanako's name can't be discounted, I reckon. After all, the American in A.I was called McDougal, too.

And Sarah (a American girl in LH) is a very popular name in Brazil.

Betong, I did read your comment with thought but am too tired to put together further questions. Thank you, I may get back to 可奈子 later.

And you others, thank you too!

***

Next comes Kanako and Keitaro's family name. Considering that Finnish does not have a separate sh type sound* and that Japanese does not have s before i, Japanese Urashima is practically the same as Finnish urasima ('furrow mead', 'groove mead' or 'career mead', depending on how you interpret ura). Does not make sense but sounds pretty hilarious.

__________

*Or in fact the literary language does, but the š only occurs in young loanwords and transcribed foreign names. Younger people, who generally learn English and some Swedish at school, can tell the difference between s and š pretty well. The older, less schooled and less urban a Finn is, the less likely he is to recognize š as a sound separate from s, let alone produce it correctly.

Fascinting stuff. So -- a hen? Well, Kana'd like to be a pulled hen, at that, and she'd like Keitaro to do the pulling! Betong's theory is quite interesting, and sounds very plausible. I can't think of any English counterparts to the Japanese names, and have little to contribute, I fear, other than to mention in passing that I seem to recall finding Aoyama listed in a collection of samurai family surnames going back quite a ways. Motoko would be proud, no doubt. As to the meaning of Urashima -- career mead -- hmm, obviously a reference to drunken college students, or would-be ronin, drinking to ease their pain at not getting into Tokyo U. And mead is some good stuff, too . . .

Ammaranth

I doubt Akamatsu looked too deeply into the homonym Finnish meaning before he picked the names, somehow

Betong, O RLY?

Amm, U PHAIL. It did not occur to me when writing the opening, but there is one clear homophone name in LH: Japanese Mei -- English May. Of course, forgetting someone barely featured in the manga version is not a deadly sin.

As for Japanese-English homographs in this context, I am afraid I cannot come up with any suggestions.

Still waiting for more contributions from those board members whose home language is other than English...

Phail, do I? Hmm, well, a quick search suggests that the Aoyama family was active going back to before the year 1600. Sounds like the ladies of the blue mountains have been successful at propagating their line for over 400 years now, so maybe I DO have a chance

Ammaranth

Originally Posted by Ammaranth

Phail, do I? Hmm, well, a quick search suggests that the Aoyama family was active going back to before the year 1600. Sounds like the ladies of the blue mountains have been successful at propagating their line for over 400 years now, so maybe I DO have a chance

Ammaranth

You are right, Amma: Motoko Aoyama menas, in Japanase, girl from the base of Blue Mountain (in Brazilian Portuguese, garota da base da montanha azul). Moreover, one of main neighborhoods of Tokyo is called Aoyama.

The area's named after Aoyama Tadanari, who had one of his houses there. Bit odd though, that Akamatsu would pick the name of a Kanto clan and have them originate from Kyoto in the manga.

Er, you only failed at remembereing Mei Narusegawa. As for the genealogy of the Aoyama family, I am sure you would beat me any day. You, and Betong Åsna, too. Any new research results?

So, let me move on to Narusegawa.

I would say that on the sound structure level, the biggest difference between Japanese and Finnish is the number of consonant phonemes. Finnish has less than most languages I know of. Similarly to the š mentioned above, g and w (and a bunch of others) are newcomers in our literary language. Especially to older and less schooled people, they appear as little more than snobbish variants of k and v, respectively.

So, give me the Japanese name Narusegawa Naru, and my automatic reaction is to read it as naru, sekava naru. That stands for 'a string, a tangled string'.

Recognize Naru as the character's name, and you get 'Naru, the muddle-headed Naru'. Yeah, from the very beginning I knew she was a bit effed up in the head.

Haha, that actually works

hmm i was thinking about it, but i can't really can come up with anything in either Dutch or Chinese
Well unless you could count "Shi" in Shinobu as either "Four"/"Death"/"yes" in Chinese

Heck, I have forgotten something very important (= the precious thing)! Possibly because it is not a Japanese name.

suu is Finnish for 'mouth'.

Ah..in that case Suu is sour in my chinese dialect

Suu is English for Sue

Suu means sweet in your language H-rei, but are you suu about that?