It is common in naming of nicknames to create abbreviations by using the first two sounds of two words. Perhaps the most popular of these examples would be, KimuTaku, the nickname of super famous Japanese actor and singer, Kimura Takuya of SMAP fame.The same practice is also applied to foreign celebrities such as Brad Pitt who is more commonly known as Burapi, Jimi Hendrix becomes the rather cute sounding Jimihen and Leonardo DiCaprio shortens to Dikapuri.Furthermore, for any given female name or male name there are one or more affectionate nicknames. These are created by adding the suffix "-chan" to a stem. There are two types of stem. One consists of the full given name. Examples of this type are Tar�-chan from Tar�, Kimiko-chan from Kimiko, and Yasunari-chan from Yasunari. The other type of stem is a modified stem derived from the full given name.
Examples of such names are: Miki-chan from Mikiko, Kii-chan from Kimiko, and Y�-chan from Yasunari. "-kun" is used to address men who are younger or the same age as the speaker. A male might address female inferiors by "-kun" usually in schools or companies. It can be attached to both surnames and given names. It is less polite than "~ san." It isn't used between women or when addressing one's superiors.
Overall suffixes such as chan and kun soften the nickname giving it an affectionate, younger tone. However, it's not uncommon to see women address each other as -chan well into their later years of life - a secret to a long happy life perhaps !
Old English names have been enjoying a revival in popularity in recent years so with that in mind we here at OEN decided to put a list of old English names online in one complete list with meanings for each name in English. Here we present the 
The usage of names in Japan, in any given conversation, depends on the situation and the speaker's relationships with the people involved. Usually the surname is used, with Japanese first names more or less restricted to casual situations and cases where the speaker is older than, superior to, or very familiar with the named person.
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.
First names are much more diverse in pronunciation and character usage than Japanese family names. Male names often end in -rÅ� (郎 "son", but also 朗 "clear, bright"; e.g. "IchirÅ�") or -ta (太 "great, thick"; e.g. "Kenta"), or contain ichi (一 "first [son]"; e.g. "Ken'ichi"), kazu (also written with 一 "first [son]", along with several other possible characters; e.g. "Kazuhiro"), ji (二 "second [son]" or 次 "next"; e.g. "JirÅ�"), or dai (大 "great, large"; e.g. "Dai'ichi") while female names often end in -ko (å� "child"; e.g. "Keiko") or -mi (美 "beauty"; e.g. "Yumi"). Other popular endings for female names include -ka (香 "scent, perfume" or 花 "flower"; e.g. "Reika") and -na (奈, or è�œ, meaning greens; e.g. "Haruna").
