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Japan Naming Customs: Difference between revisions
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*After the Meiji Restoration, ''''the government ordered all commoners to assume surnames''' in addition to their given names, as part of modernization and Westernization; this was specified in the Family Register Law of 1898. | *After the Meiji Restoration, ''''the government ordered all commoners to assume surnames''' in addition to their given names, as part of modernization and Westernization; this was specified in the Family Register Law of 1898. | ||
*Many people adopted '''historical names, others simply made names up, chose names through divination, or had a Shinto or Buddhist priest choose a surname for them'''. This explains, in part, the large number of surnames in Japan, as well as their great diversity of spelling and pronunciation, and makes tracing ancestry past a certain point extremely difficult in Japan. | *Many people adopted '''historical names, others simply made names up, chose names through divination, or had a Shinto or Buddhist priest choose a surname for them'''. This explains, in part, the large number of surnames in Japan, as well as their great diversity of spelling and pronunciation, and makes tracing ancestry past a certain point extremely difficult in Japan. | ||
*Many '''ethnic minorities, mostly Korean and Chinese, living in Japan adopt Japanese names'''. The roots of this custom go back to the colonial-era policy of sōshi-kaimei, which forced Koreans to change their names to Japanese names. Nowadays, ethnic minorities, mostly Korean, who immigrated to Japan after WWII, take on Japanese names, sometimes called pass names, to ease communication and, more importantly, to avoid discrimination. | *Many '''ethnic minorities, mostly Korean and Chinese, living in Japan adopt Japanese names'''. The roots of this custom go back to the colonial-era policy of sōshi-kaimei, which forced Koreans to change their names to Japanese names. Nowadays, ethnic minorities, mostly Korean, who immigrated to Japan after WWII, take on Japanese names, sometimes called pass names, to ease communication and, more importantly, to avoid discrimination.<ref name="JAPAN"> "Japanese name" in Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name, accessed 7 March 2021.</ref> | ||
==Given Names== | ==Given Names== | ||