Japanese Place Names - Behind the Name

CHUUGOKU 中国 (Country & Region) Japanese
Japanese form of ZHONGGUO, used to refer to China. It is also the name of a region in western Japan.

HOTAKA 穂高 (Mountain) Japanese
From Japanese 穂 (ho) meaning "grain" and 高 (taka) meaning "tall". This is the name of a mountain in Japan.

INDO 印度, インド (Country) Japanese
Japanese form of INDIA. It is usually written in the katakana writing system.

KOBE 神戸 (Settlement) Japanese
Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 神戸 (see KOUBE).

KOUBE 神戸 (Settlement) Japanese
Possibly means "shrine supporters", in reference to the families who tended the local Ikuta Shrine. This is the name of a city in Japan.

NIHON 日本 (Country) Japanese
Alternate reading of NIPPON.

NIPPON 日本 (Country) Japanese
Means "origin of the sun, sunrise", from Sino-Japanese 日 (nichi) meaning "sun" and 本 (hon) meaning "root, origin". This is the Japanese name for Japan.

PEKIN 北京 (Settlement) Japanese
Japanese form of BEIJING.

TOKYO 東京 (Settlement) Japanese, English, French
From Japanese 東 (tou) meaning "east" and 京 (kyou) meaning "capital city". This is the name of the capital of Japan.

TOUKYOU 東京 (Settlement) Japanese
Japanese form of TOKYO.

YAMATO 大和 (Country) Japanese
Possibly related to Japanese 山 (yama) meaning "mountain". This was the old name for the area around the city of Nara, though it was later applied to the entire country of Japan. Chinese scribes originally wrote this name using the character 倭 meaning "short". However, this was revised to the more favourable 和 meaning "harmony" in the 8th century. The prefixed character 大 means "great".

	Usage
	Initial letter
	Type
	Meaning	expand search to ancestral names the meaning is anything from the name's write-up that is surrounded by "double quotes" separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to ancestral names: meanings for names further up the family tree will be included in the search
	Description	ignore name meanings the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" will match names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus will match Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored
	Origin
	Length
	Syllables	syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results
	Pattern	the pattern will be compared to the name * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters example: oo will match names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter example: __z will match names which have two letters and then a z
	Sound	case sensitive see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee will match names which end with the sound lee* (s) will match exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)rah will match names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) will match a consonant (k) will match a consonant or consonant cluster (v) will match a vowel (p) will match a plosive or stop consonant (p) will match a fricative consonant (n) will match a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
	Related name
	Relationship	expand search to ancestral names the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive will return Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* will exclude peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree will be included
	Namesake
	User list	enter a behindthename.com username to search that user's public personal name lists to limit your search to a specific list, put the name of the list in brackets after the username
	Options