Raen Surname assisstance

[Tara]

I have two surnames I'm considering for my Raen nobles: Tachikage and Tsurugikage. 

I'm fairly certain that both of those mean 'Shadow Blade/Sword' in some way, shape or form but seeing as the extent of my knowledge of Japanese is saying 'Hello' I thought it best to ask here on which name doesn't butcher the language to the Void and back...I'm very sorry for bothering people over such a small detail but I've been trying to figure this out for three weeks now. 

[Unnamed Mercenary]

What are the kanji you'd be using to make the name?

 

If you're going for 100% lore-compliant naming scheme for Raen, SE has rules on which are allowed as Raen use more Doman conventions and their names are usually a bit...archaic.

 

Even with a more modern twist, knowing the characters can at least help with making sure it's been built correctly and isn't relying on an obscure reading or so!

[Virella]

I think as long you don't go for a generic anime last name, you will be completely fine! I mean, as long as it looks Japanese to me I'm like "Yup, that sounds lore fitting". No one is really going to pick your lastname apart, as long it looks fitting imo

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I think as long you don't go for a generic anime last name, you will be completely fine! I mean, as long as it looks Japanese to me I'm like "Yup, that sounds lore fitting". No one is really going to pick your lastname apart, as long it looks fitting imo

 

You say that but.... *retrieves dictionary* 初音ミク is still not a compliant Raen name, no matter how badly someone would want to be named Miku of the Hatsune clan. (Some of those characters are too new as well. Japan likes inventing new ones, which is why it can be difficult).

[Tara]

What are the kanji you'd be using to make the name?

 

If you're going for 100% lore-compliant naming scheme for Raen, SE has rules on which are allowed as Raen use more Doman conventions and their names are usually a bit...archaic.

 

Even with a more modern twist, knowing the characters can at least help with making sure it's been built correctly and isn't relying on an obscure reading or so!

 

 

Um....I have absolutely no experience using kanji but Google tells me that this 剣 is Tsurugi and this 影 is Kage while this 太刀 is Tachi. I take this with a giant grain of salt though.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

OK, so those are all proper kanji, but the readings don't really mash together like that in practice.

 

Likely though, as Virella said, nobody's really going to notice unless they're being nitpicky and have the knowledge/tools to deconstruct the name.

 

The way you've put them together though, it looks more like Blade/Sword Shadow as opposed to the other way around.

 

For something like "Shadow Blade" you could use something like Kageha, which is written 影刃 (literally shadow-blade) and Kageken, which is written 影剣.

 

Japanese kanji are weird because when a compound work is made, it often will make use of the Chinese reading instead of the Japanese reading a lot of the time. It's why you get -ha and -ken instead of the full Japanese word.

[Tara]

OK, so those are all proper kanji, but the readings don't really mash together like that in practice.

 

Likely though, as Virella said, nobody's really going to notice unless they're being nitpicky and have the knowledge/tools to deconstruct the name.

 

The way you've put them together though, it looks more like Blade/Sword Shadow as opposed to the other way around.

 

For something like "Shadow Blade" you could use something like Kageha, which is written 影刃 (literally shadow-blade) and Kageken, which is written 影剣.

 

Japanese kanji are weird because when a compound work is made, it often will make use of the Chinese reading instead of the Japanese reading a lot of the time. It's why you get -ha and -ken instead of the full Japanese word.

Thank you very, very much for your help today, for helping me with a name and giving me an impromptu lesson on kanji!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

I'm still pretty awful with them (this's about as far as I can get with ~2.5 years of college Japanese and little practice), but you can get by decently with a mix of google translate and dictionaries. Someone else would would have to explain the rules better.

[Tara]

I think as long you don't go for a generic anime last name, you will be completely fine! I mean, as long as it looks Japanese to me I'm like "Yup, that sounds lore fitting". No one is really going to pick your lastname apart, as long it looks fitting imo

I would have done just this but then I started to worry if it would make people facepalm or something of the sort so I thought it better to ask. My next idea was to just translate it into English and just use that instead >.<

[Caspar]

The use of alternative readings can help to make them sound more like nanes and less a mashup of words. Merc's example is good. As I'm at work I can't study more closely, and my grammar is still rudimentary, but I think you could use "ha" or "jin" reading of 刃 Also given names can have such a meaning. Like the tsurugi kanji can be a female name, Mayaka. You should try lovating surnames that have the "sword" kanji written within it.

 

This feels kinda like reverse chuunibyou lol. In any case, I would focus on finding a name that gives the impression you want, as anyone who would criticize you for having an "anime" character probably wouldn't appreciate one in the first place. It's like any fiction. Some characters will have normal names and some have flowery ones nobody in real life would use.

[allgivenover]

I wouldn't worry too much about the kanji meaning because you get strange situations like this that don't work in english at all without lengthy explanations.

 

 

剣 this is the character for 'ken'. As a surname you could say it as either Tsurugi or Kenzaki, and you wouldn't know until it was spoken or written in furigana.

 

A taste of how further complex this can get... 剣 could also be "clock hand" so....

 

As for your particular idea, shadow sword/blade/whatever isn't really any kind of "proper" surname so it will immediately out you as "wrong". Not to say that you can't do it, anime characters have crazy names after all that you'd never find IRL and really you're not going to be running into native speakers on Balmung, so if you want to rock Kageken, Kenkage, Tsurugikage, or whatever that's fine.

 

You might be able to get something you like off of 切 which is "cut". Something like Kirikage.. same problem as Tsurugikage really, but your mileage may very.

 

Personally I would go with something that sounds a bit more natural like 影貴 which means "prized shadow" and could be romanized as 'Kageki'.

 

If you're really worried about doing it "right" beyond that... don't be afraid to use the name generator. There's no shame in it and the romanizations may lead you to a name you really really like rather than just sort of accept.

[Tara]

Haha. Thanks guys  The 'Kage' part of the name is purely for me considering that Raen noble names are warbased. I wanted something with sword/blade (Ken, tachi, tsurugi etc) that sounded ninja-ish as well. It was honestly a toss up between Kaze/Fu: 風 and Kage: 影. 

 

 

But the shadowy part of the name is simply for me *shrug* I can probably find a generated name that fits well enough. If...you know...I can find the meaning of the generated names. Half of them don't seem to be proper Japanese which is probably why it's silly to worry over something like this. I'm trying to keep the name as lore friendly as possible while also not butchering the language of a place I admire.

[Tara]

I think I may have found a name that works. It actually came out of the randomizer: Kagemusa/Kagemusha. Insofar as I can tell it's also the name of a 1980's movie but means 'Shadow Warrior' which is the aesthetic I was going for. (影 and 武者)