| Names [message #328815] |
Sun, 18 September 2016 21:27  |
Brian
Messages: 441
Registered: February 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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My late father's name was Paige. In the 1920's, this was a fairly
common name for males.
Somewhere betweeen then and now, that has changed so that Paige is a now
a name for females. In fact my dad would occasionally got mail
addressed to "Miss Paige Christiansen."
I read somewhere that when a name becomes changes from being for
males to being common for females, it is no longer used very much or
even at all for males, at least in the US. This does not seem to be
true in Japan, at least by going off the names in anime.
For example, Ritsu is used both for a female (K-ON) and a male (Fruits
Basket), Azusa is used for both a female(K-ON) and a male (Big Windup),
so at least it seeems that in anime, names (or at least some names) are
interchangeable between males and females.
I would assume, but do not know for certain that this is true in
real life. I have never came across an anime with a guy name Kanako,
or even <something>-ko, but there might be an anime where that is used
to comic effect, kinda the anime equivalent of Johnny Cash's song "A
Boy Named Sue"
What it was wondering is if there is some kind of mark or indication
that makes a name, for example, "Ritsu-for-boys" or "Ritsu-for-girls"
that changes the meaning, but not the pronunciation of the word, or at
least not in a way that is discernable to American ears.
Brian Christiansen
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| Re: Names [message #328816 is a reply to message #328815] |
Sun, 18 September 2016 23:02  |
David Johnston
Messages: 220
Registered: March 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 9/18/2016 7:27 PM, Brian wrote:
> My late father's name was Paige. In the 1920's, this was a fairly
> common name for males.
>
> Somewhere betweeen then and now, that has changed so that Paige is a now
> a name for females. In fact my dad would occasionally got mail
> addressed to "Miss Paige Christiansen."
>
> I read somewhere that when a name becomes changes from being for
> males to being common for females, it is no longer used very much or
> even at all for males, at least in the US. This does not seem to be
> true in Japan, at least by going off the names in anime.
>
> For example, Ritsu is used both for a female (K-ON) and a male (Fruits
> Basket), Azusa is used for both a female(K-ON) and a male (Big Windup),
> so at least it seeems that in anime, names (or at least some names) are
> interchangeable between males and females.
>
> I would assume, but do not know for certain that this is true in
> real life. I have never came across an anime with a guy name Kanako,
> or even <something>-ko, but there might be an anime where that is used
> to comic effect, kinda the anime equivalent of Johnny Cash's song "A
> Boy Named Sue"
>
> What it was wondering is if there is some kind of mark or indication
> that makes a name, for example, "Ritsu-for-boys" or "Ritsu-for-girls"
> that changes the meaning, but not the pronunciation of the word, or at
> least not in a way that is discernable to American ears.
>
> Brian Christiansen
>
>
>
Seems unlikely. Mistaking a girl for a boy or vice versa because of
ambiguous appearance and a name that gives no clue is a standard plot in
Japan, after all.
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| Re: Names [message #328818 is a reply to message #328816] |
Mon, 19 September 2016 01:05 |
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Originally posted by: Bobbie Sellers
On 09/18/2016 08:02 PM, David Johnston wrote:
> On 9/18/2016 7:27 PM, Brian wrote:
>> My late father's name was Paige. In the 1920's, this was a fairly
>> common name for males.
>>
>> Somewhere betweeen then and now, that has changed so that Paige is a now
>> a name for females. In fact my dad would occasionally got mail
>> addressed to "Miss Paige Christiansen."
>>
>> I read somewhere that when a name becomes changes from being for
>> males to being common for females, it is no longer used very much or
>> even at all for males, at least in the US. This does not seem to be
>> true in Japan, at least by going off the names in anime.
>>
>> For example, Ritsu is used both for a female (K-ON) and a male (Fruits
>> Basket), Azusa is used for both a female(K-ON) and a male (Big Windup),
>> so at least it seeems that in anime, names (or at least some names) are
>> interchangeable between males and females.
>>
>> I would assume, but do not know for certain that this is true in
>> real life. I have never came across an anime with a guy name Kanako,
>> or even <something>-ko, but there might be an anime where that is used
>> to comic effect, kinda the anime equivalent of Johnny Cash's song "A
>> Boy Named Sue"
>>
>> What it was wondering is if there is some kind of mark or indication
>> that makes a name, for example, "Ritsu-for-boys" or "Ritsu-for-girls"
>> that changes the meaning, but not the pronunciation of the word, or at
>> least not in a way that is discernable to American ears.
>>
>> Brian Christiansen
>>
>>
>>
>
> Seems unlikely. Mistaking a girl for a boy or vice versa because of
> ambiguous appearance and a name that gives no clue is a standard plot in
> Japan, after all.
Yes and the gender/sexual ambiguity thing is a standard trope
in Japanese popular culture. And it has a counterpart in light
American culture going back to Thorne Smith's "Turnabout" where
through magic a husband and wife exchange bodies. We see it
again in comedies where husband and wife exchange jobs.
In Japanese culture the epitome of this theme occurs in
accounts of the life of the heroic Minamoto no Yoshitsune who was
accounted as beautiful as any woman and the cleverest General
in Japan, He did more to help establish the Kamakura Shogunate
than any other warrior. The other generals were jealous and
impugned him to his brother, the Shogun Yoritomo, who brought
him down.
bliss
--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com
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| Re: Names [message #328824 is a reply to message #328815] |
Mon, 19 September 2016 08:41 |
Manbow Papa
Messages: 113
Registered: March 2012
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 2016/09/19 10:27, Brian wrote:
> My late father's name was Paige. In the 1920's, this was a fairly
> common name for males.
>
> Somewhere betweeen then and now, that has changed so that Paige is a now
> a name for females. In fact my dad would occasionally got mail
> addressed to "Miss Paige Christiansen."
>
> I read somewhere that when a name becomes changes from being for
> males to being common for females, it is no longer used very much or
> even at all for males, at least in the US. This does not seem to be
> true in Japan, at least by going off the names in anime.
>
> For example, Ritsu is used both for a female (K-ON) and a male (Fruits
> Basket), Azusa is used for both a female(K-ON) and a male (Big Windup),
> so at least it seeems that in anime, names (or at least some names) are
> interchangeable between males and females.
>
> I would assume, but do not know for certain that this is true in
> real life. I have never came across an anime with a guy name Kanako,
> or even <something>-ko, but there might be an anime where that is used
> to comic effect, kinda the anime equivalent of Johnny Cash's song "A
> Boy Named Sue"
>
> What it was wondering is if there is some kind of mark or indication
> that makes a name, for example, "Ritsu-for-boys" or "Ritsu-for-girls"
> that changes the meaning, but not the pronunciation of the word, or at
> least not in a way that is discernable to American ears.
>
> Brian Christiansen
>
>
>
Generally, no. If you need, you can use a different friendly suffix.
Ritsu-chan (female) or Ritsu-kun (male), for example.
--
/ Ishikawa Kazuo /
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