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[Opinions] Japanese sibsets
Two sibsets I want to share with you:1: Basketball player siblings - Sakura (さくら "cherry (tree, blossom)" - elder sister), Himawari (ひまわり "sunflower" - younger sister) and Raita (雷太, first kanji meaning "lightning" - twin brother with Himawari)
2: Twin baby girls I found - Kaname (叶芽) and Makana (茉叶), both sharing the kanji 叶 meaning "grant, answer"WDYT?My PNL: http://www.behindthename.com/pnl/149249
'Maybe It Is Daijiro (aka Maks)' blog: https://maybeitisdaijirou.wordpress.com/
'Beyond Sakura and Hiroshi' blog: https://beyondsakuraandhiroshi.wordpress.com/
My Twitter: @maybeitsdaijiro

This message was edited 10/28/2019, 10:25 AM

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Kaname and Makana make a nice sibset, and I love Himawari.
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Sakura is always good, although it’s very common and has been for a long time. It’s the Japanese Jennifer. I also really don’t care for it at all in hiragana. Himawari is beautiful, but I’m not a huge fan of hiragana names. I believe ひまわり is usually written this way, though, although it could be 向日葵。Raita is awesome, especially with those kanji. Love the connection to lightning.Kaname and Makana sound too similar to my ear, and the shared kanji reinforce this.

This message was edited 10/28/2019, 9:20 PM

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I like Himawari.
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These combos are way too gimmicky for me, seems this naming style of matchy and nature names isn't just a western thing.Sakura and Himawari are already too cheesy together, but Raita doesn't even make sense with this combo, and the first two sound more like twins.
Kaname and Makana are wayyy too similar, and sharing kanji too. That may work in Korean culture but I think it's important for Japanese names to have originality.Individually I like Himawari and Kaname though
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Hi m4yb3_daijirou !!!Sakura, Himawari and Raita are great !!This combo seems a pearl necklace: Sakura's meaning is matched with Himawari's and "sunflower" is tied with "lightning". It's great.I noticed that the brother's name is written with kanji while the sisters's are in hiragana.Is this usage still used? I know that in the past hiragana was the "women's writing" but nowadays kanji are not only for very educated people..Can parents choose how to write their children's name? Kira-kira names are written in Katakana so I assume that hiragana is still seen as "delicate" so nice to use for girls.I personally prefer kanji than hiragana because I would be proud that women are more educated than in the past...What's your opinion about these two (three with katakana) different ways to write names? What would you do if you were a new Japanese mother this year?

This message was edited 10/28/2019, 1:32 PM

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Sorry for the late reply.I noticed that the brother's name is written with kanji while the sisters's are in hiragana. Is this usage still used?
Seeing as if there are still cases of babies having their names written in hiragana/katakana (the former occurring more on girls, though it can occur on boys as well) and the fact that the basketball player siblings were born in 1996 and 1998, it's reasonable for me to think so, though with the research I'm doing now, I don't really pay much attention to how the names of siblings are written (though I do encounter twin siblings in my research and, as a site note, sharing one kanji for both of the twins do occur very often).Can parents choose how to write their children's name?
I would refer you to this part of the Wikipedia article about Japanese names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_name#Regulations
With regards to readings, nowadays, the amount of them used by Japanese parents is wider than ever, adding to the official on, kun and nanori readings already available (e.g. 咲 or 愛 - I see them being used with the reading ra, the first one taken from stem 咲 (wara) "laugh, smile" or maybe from 桜 (sakura) "cherry (tree, blossom)" and the second I presume is taken from ラブ (rabu) "love"). Sometimes, I come across names where it has reading that refers to something but is written with a kanji that refers to something else or a broader concept, thing etc. (there are couple of examples that I've put out in my BSAH name list post, see: https://beyondsakuraandhiroshi.wordpress.com/2019/08/06/single-kanji-with-interesting-readings/)Kira-kira names are written in Katakana so I assume that hiragana is still seen as "delicate" so nice to use for girls.

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I love the sounds of Kaname and Makana for a twin sibset and they share kanji??? that's super cute!Sakura and Raita feel sort of uninspired and I personally prefer Mio for a cherry blossom themed name, Himawari is super cute though!
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