<p>Sometimes, Japanese (as opposed to foreign, e.g Lelouch from Code Geass) characters in anime and manga get given names which seem un-Japanese, at least as far as I can tell. I have three different examples:</p>

<ul>
<li>Orihara Izaya - 折原 臨也 (Durarara!!): the pronunciation of “Izaya” doesn't match the kanji, and apparently comes from the biblical “Isaiah”.</li>
<li>Yagami Light - 夜神 月 (Death Note): again, pronunciation doesn't match the kanji, but is clearly directly from English.</li>
<li>Mankanshoku Mako - 満艦飾 マコ (Kill la Kill): given name written in katakana, though I gather that the name may not be realistic anyway - “mankanshoku” means “dressed up”.</li>
</ul>

<p>So, my question is: are there any real Japanese people with names like these?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-07T19:00:07.173Z
This is probably a better fit for [Japanese.se]
Hakase
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2014-07-07T19:05:35.900Z
We can't really make a blanket statement here - some shows will have realistic character names; others, like Kill la Kill (especially), will have absurd names that look Japanese on the surface but turn out to be something that nobody would ever use in real life.
senshin
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2014-07-07T20:49:27.657Z
@user1306322: I was considering that, but most of the questions on there seem useful for someone learning Japanese, rather than being of only incidental relevance. Also, this question can be turned round to be “how often are unrealistic names found in anime & manga?”, which is a bit more like what the title suggests. Should I edit the last sentence?
mudri
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2014-07-07T21:01:37.427Z
If you do that, it'll be closed as a dupe of some other such question.
Hakase
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2014-07-07T21:35:54.330Z
@user1306322: That would answer my question. But I don't know of any similar questions. This question is already #3 on Google for [how realistic are anime names].
mudri
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2014-07-08T05:12:35.510Z
Yeah it's really easy to get top spot on google with a very specific question on this site.
Hakase
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2014-07-08T12:19:18.890Z
Note that you can't just say "doesn't match the kanji" with names - alternate readings are used, puns, things swapped... [this online dictionary](http://dict.regex.info/cgi-bin/j-e/dict) has a list of searchable names, although obviously not exhaustive, that should show some of that.
Clockwork-Muse
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-09T04:57:44.713Z
[This question](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11635) and [this question](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11661) on JSE might be informative, although they focus on real-world naming as opposed to anime characters.
Kiruwa
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2014-07-09T09:20:35.083Z
I did some more reading, and it seems normal to have 也 read as や. So “Izaya” (“臨也”) is formed realistically, even if it's unlikely that anyone else has had that name before.
mudri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-09T19:58:57.000Z
This would be a good fit for the [Japanese Culture](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/59039/japanese-culture) Proposal. Please take sometime to add example questions (like this one) and vote on the questions! (10 more 10 vote question until the next phase!)
кяαzєя
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-10T12:46:48.080Z
@Krazer: it's been deleted, unfortunately.
mudri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-10T15:26:30.927Z
@JamesWood I fixed the link.
кяαzєя
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-10T15:39:37.700Z
Should I copy it in pretty much verbatim?
mudri
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-07-10T15:51:31.677Z
Oh, I only have to add a title. [Here it is](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/59039/japanese-culture/74036#74036).
mudri
<japanese-language>
How realistic are the names of Japanese characters?
# How realistic are the names of Japanese characters?
Posted by: username_0 on 2014-07-07
Sometimes, Japanese (as opposed to foreign, e.g Lelouch from Code Geass) characters in anime and manga get given names which seem un-Japanese, at least as far as I can tell. I have three different examples:

* Orihara Izaya - 折原 臨也 (Durarara!!): the pronunciation of “Izaya” doesn't match the kanji, and apparently comes from the biblical “Isaiah”.
* Yagami Light - 夜神 月 (Death Note): again, pronunciation doesn't match the kanji, but is clearly directly from English.
* Mankanshoku Mako - 満艦飾 マコ (Kill la Kill): given name written in katakana, though I gather that the name may not be realistic anyway - “mankanshoku” means “dressed up”.

So, my question is: are there any real Japanese people with names like these?
**Tags:** japanese-language
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This is probably a better fit for [Japanese.se]  
> **username_2**: We can't really make a blanket statement here - some shows will have realistic character names; others, like Kill la Kill (especially), will have absurd names that look Japanese on the surface but turn out to be something that nobody would ever use in real life.  
> **username_0**: @user1306322: I was considering that, but most of the questions on there seem useful for someone learning Japanese, rather than being of only incidental relevance. Also, this question can be turned round to be “how often are unrealistic names found in anime & manga?”, which is a bit more like what the title suggests. Should I edit the last sentence?  
> **username_1**: If you do that, it'll be closed as a dupe of some other such question.  
> **username_0**: @user1306322: That would answer my question. But I don't know of any similar questions. This question is already #3 on Google for [how realistic are anime names].  
> **username_1**: Yeah it's really easy to get top spot on google with a very specific question on this site.  
> **username_3**: Note that you can't just say "doesn't match the kanji" with names - alternate readings are used, puns, things swapped... [this online dictionary](http://dict.regex.info/cgi-bin/j-e/dict) has a list of searchable names, although obviously not exhaustive, that should show some of that.  
> **username_4**: [This question](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11635) and [this question](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11661) on JSE might be informative, although they focus on real-world naming as opposed to anime characters.  
> **username_0**: I did some more reading, and it seems normal to have 也 read as や. So “Izaya” (“臨也”) is formed realistically, even if it's unlikely that anyone else has had that name before.  
> **username_5**: This would be a good fit for the [Japanese Culture](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/59039/japanese-culture) Proposal. Please take sometime to add example questions (like this one) and vote on the questions! (10 more 10 vote question until the next phase!)  
> **username_0**: @Krazer: it's been deleted, unfortunately.  
> **username_5**: @JamesWood I fixed the link.  
> **username_0**: Should I copy it in pretty much verbatim?  
> **username_0**: Oh, I only have to add a title. [Here it is](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/59039/japanese-culture/74036#74036).  
---
## 0 answers
