Japanese Place Names

Japanese names are used in Japan and in Japanese communities throughout the world. Note that depending on the Japanese characters used these names can have many other meanings besides those listed here. See also about Japanese names.

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Type

Usage

Initial letter

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)ra 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
(f) 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

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CHŪGOKU 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.

CHUUGOKU 中国 (Country & Region) Japanese
Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 中国 (see CHŪGOKU).

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.

KŌBE 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.

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

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

MŌKO 蒙古 (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Japanese
Japanese form of MONGOLIA.

MOUKO 蒙古 (Country, Political Subdivision & Region) Japanese
Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji 蒙古 (see MŌKO).

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.

TŌKYŌ 東京 (Settlement) Japanese
Japanese form of TOKYO.

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

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".