Reading and Pronunciation issues

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Names written in kanji may have a few common pronunciations however only one pronunciation of the name is correct for a given person. For example, the name written in kanji as �海林 may be read either T�kairin or Sh�ji. Furthermore, any one name may have several written forms with only one being correct for that person. This characteristic of Japanese names is more prevalent with boy names than with family or girl names.

These issues tend to make the pronunciation, and romanization of Japanese names a bit of a problem in certain situations. To get around this, business cards will often show the pronunciation of the name in furigana. Forms and documents usually have spaces to write the reading of the name in kana (usually katakana). At restaurants in Japan it is common to wait to be seated by writing one's name on a list and waiting to be called, and at the top of the list there is usually a request to write one's name in katakana, rather than kanji.

Not all names are complicated. Some common names are summarized by the phrase tanakamura ("the village in the middle of the rice fields"): the three kanji: 田 (ta, rice field), 中 (naka, middle) and � (mura, village), together in any pair, form a simple, reasonably common surname: Tanaka, Nakamura, Murata, Nakata (Nakada), Muranaka, Tamura.

Despite these difficulties, there are enough patterns and recurring names that most native Japanese will be able to read virtually all Japanese family names they encounter and the majority of personal names.