Today, there is an estimate of 100,00 Japanese family names; however, it wasnt always like that.
So how did Japanese last names get to where they are today?
This was a way to distinguish people by class and if they were commoners or nobles.
Vincent Camacho
So then what happened?
is a Japanese word that means family name and is pronounced Myouji.
In the past, it was pronounced Naazana, which was a key in of formal nickname.
While nobles would continue using their true first names, Samurai did things differently.
Samurai, a member of a powerful military in Japan, would use nicknames.
This law didnt go into effect until 1875.
Until 1898, husbands and wives had to keep their separate family names.
Then, things changed and women had to take the Japanese surname of their husband.
What happened next?
Where are we now?
As mentioned before, there are thousands of Japanese names.
to can be read as fuji, and means wisteria.
Kobayashi
Japanese Meaning: Small forest.
Nakamura
Japanese Meaning: inside or middle (naka ) and village (mura ).
A person with this Japanese name might be from the middle village.
This would often be used for generic names, as we would with Jane Doe or John Smith.
Sato is the most popular last name because of the possibility that it descended from the great clan.
Hiragana is a Japanese syllabary or pronunciation.
Its also one part of the phonetic lettering system.
What is Katakana?
Katakana is the other part of the Japanese phonetic lettering system.
Whats the difference between the two?
Hiragana is used for spelling out Japanese words and Katakana is used for foreign words.
Katakana lettering is also ore straight, while Hiragana is more curved.
What does Tokyo mean?
Eastern capital (kyo) means Capital and (to) means City.
