The Japanese language contains two parallel sets of vocabulary, one of native Japanese origin (yamato kotoba) and one borrowed from Chinese (kango). This means that there are two separate words for numerals, with the native Japanese and Sino-Japanese words for 7 being nana and shichi, respectively. Different words are used for different contexts, and kango is normally used when you count in Japanese. Despite this, however, when Japanese people pronounce 7, nana is almost always used. The problem lies in the fact that Japanese people don't actually like the word shichi, as it sounds too similar to shi, the Sino-Japanese word for 4, which is a homophone for the word for death (thus 4 similarly also uses the native Japanese yon in counting). Being a superstitious people, the Japanese really, really hate invoking death every time they count — and the fact that shichi sounds almost like the Sino-Japanese word for 1, ichi, doesn't help.
It's worth noting that 7 is considered a lucky number in Japan. Nana is sometimes used as a feminine name with possible double meaning. If a character appears with the name Nana, expect it to be a Meaningful Name.
One, Two, Three, Four, Go! is a Sister Trope. See also Numerical Theme Naming and Goroawase Number.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In Area no Kishi, Nana Mishima, a.k.a "Seven", was referred to by her elementary school football jersey number, which just so happened to be "7".
- The main protagonist in Battle Royale is Shuya Nanahara, nicknamed 'Wild Seven' because of his surname.
- In Battle Spirits Shonen Toppa Bashin, Number Seven of Numbers Elite's real name is Nanao Watanabe.
- Nanaho Kinjou in Best Student Council is the seventh child of the Kinjou family. Her Killer Yo-Yo has a seven emblazoned on it, and one of her blouses has a seven on it as well. Taking the number theme further, her nickname for her six older brothers are their birth numbers.
- In Cross Ange, Ange hoards this trope. Voiced by Nana Mizuki, her Vilkiss has a 7 on it, and the jersey she wore during the sports episode in episode 16 has her wearing a number 7 (same thing with the race car she used and the hole in one shot she made was hole number seven).
- Satou invokes this in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody. When he rescues/inherits eight identical busty blonde homunculi, the one designated "Number 7" wins the right to travel with Satou and his companions. Satou, being a self-confirmed Giver of Lame Names, decides to call her "Nana" — much to the chagrin of his fellow Japanese reincarnate.
- Playing off the all ready established pun of "Nonoriri" referring to Noriko, Nono from Diebuster is also a pun by being close in reading to "nana" as she is Buster Machine Number 7.
- Elfen Lied features experimental subject Number Seven, or "Nana" as her father figure calls her.
- Saki of Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star is associated with flowers (hana); naturally, her birthday is August seventh (ha - eight, na - seven).
- In the first episode of HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, Tsubomi is seen wearing a shirt with a 7 on it. This has two possible meanings — the fact that it's the seventh season of the series, or an Actor Allusion to her seiyuu.
- Kodocha's Sana is named after her birthday, March 7.
- Loveless has a Hikikomori called Nana who only briefly shows up in the anime but plays a larger part in the manga, and her name likely refers to her dependence on computers. She's referred to as "Seven" in the Tokyopop manga release... until volume eight, when they switch to Nana.
- In Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, Setsuna Yuki's real name is Nana Nakagawa. This is quite fitting as she is the 7th girl of the group.
- Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch: Nanami in the name Lucia Nanami means "seven seas".
- Nana Shimura in My Hero Academia is the seventh user of One for All and All Might's mentor.
- Both main characters in the aptly named series Nana are named Nana and live in apartment 707 — effectively using this trope as its entire premise. They have wildly different personalities which them having the same name only highlights further. Nana K. is called "Hachi" by all of her friends in the story (short for Hachikō, but also meaning eight) to differentiate between them because of her more cheery (and attention demanding) personality.
- In Othello, Nana receives a mix tape with "For 7" on it. She then realizes it means "For Nana".
- In Puni Puni☆Poemi, the seven Aasu sisters are all named after numbers, in reverse age order. So the youngest sister is named Hitomi (from "hito" - one), and the oldest is named Nanase.
- Nanael from Queen's Blade also counts, since almost all the angels from that series are named after numbers with the Hebrew suffix "-el" included. (Her best friend and senior, Hachiel, has number eight as her prefix in her name.)
- In Reborn! (2004) Tsuna is occasionally associated with the number 27. It's on his door, as well as the mitten form of his X gloves. Tsu sounds like two, and na is seven. Thus, 27. Made cuter by the fact that his mother's name is actually Nana and his father is Iemitsu. The last syllables of their names makes Tsuna's name.
- In Shichinin no Nana (Seven of Seven)note , a girl named Nana is split into seven personality fragments.
- And all those fragments get names that describe them and start with Nana. The exception is the eighth, bad Nana, Jamanana.
- Best of all, the primary Nana's Japanese voice actor is also named Nana (Nana Mizuki, as a matter of fact).
- Special 7: Special Crime Investigation Unit has a main character named Seiji Nanatsuki, who is the final member of the Special Seven.
Fan Works
- Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: The cheerful Ultimate Baker Nanae Mochizuki becomes the seventh to die in the Killing Game once she is executed in Chapter 3.
- An unnamed backgrounder character from Daria referred to officially only as "Cheerleader #7" has picked up the name Nana, short for Natalie Nash, in Fanon.
Video Games
- In the Japanese dub of Genshin Impact, Qiqi is named Nana — which fits the original Chinese name that literally means "Seven-Seven".
- Higurashi: When They Cry gives us Rena, which is one reading for the characters for 0 and 7 and a reference to the name of the creator, Ryukishi07. Reina would be a more commonly expected reading for 07, and that turns out to be Rena's original given name.
- The charts of Nana Abe's image song "Märchen Debut!" in THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls Starlight Stage all have note counts ending in 77. In the 2018 Cinderella Girls popularity poll, Nana garnered the most votes, thus being crowned the seventh Cinderella Girl.
- Mega Man X: Command Mission has a Reploid named Nana as your Mission Control, with the number seven displayed prominently on each of her breasts.
- The title of Nanashi no Game can mean na-nashi no game - the game with no name, and that is the primary meaning. However, it can also mean nana-shi no game - the seven-death game, as in the game that kills you in seven days.
- Tsukihime:
- Early in the game, Shiki gets a knife engraved with kanji. Assuming they represent words, he reads them as "Seven Nights". They're actually a name: Nanaya, which is the name of Shiki's real family.
- Nanako in Kagetsu Tohya. Originally... well, not quite originally since she was a human once with a presumably human name. Er. Anyway, previously, her name was Seven, in English, as she's the spirit of the Seventh Scripture; a fusion weapon created from her soul and the horn of a unicorn monster. Arihiko translates that to Japanese, Nana, and then adds a feminine ending to it. There, Nanako the horsegirl, spirit of a BF Harpoon Gun that shoots pages of the Bible. Yep.
- Nanako, from SUGURI, is a boss who fights using seven "bits," or floating weapons. In the game's spinoff 100% Orange Juice!, her hyper "Deploy Bits" adds a total of 7 points to her stats, and she has special dialogue during chapter 7.
- In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the partner Ice Climber, who in the default outfit will be Nana, has an internal AI level of 77. This is slightly higher than the internal level of a CPU player set to level 8 in the player select menu, suggesting it was chosen more as a pun on Nana's name than from any kind of balance consideration.
- Nanashi in Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse was named as such because it means 'nameless', but at level one, all his stats (except HP and MP) are 7, and he recruits seven partners over the course of the game.
- Black★Rock Shooter The Game: This trope forms a big part of Nana's characterization; she knows full well that "nana" means "seven", and takes that to mean that she was numbered seven by Prof. Gibson, as opposed to BRS having the name "Stella". It turns out that it's actually a Meaningful Name, as she was born on 7/7.
Real Life
- "Na na na" in a song is sometimes shown as the Arabic number 7 in karaoke. One example of this is Konjiki no Gash Bell's sixth ending
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- Nana Mizuki milks this trope for all it's worth with her singing career.
- She charges $77 for her concert tickets.
- She voices the Windows 7 OS-tan, Nanami Madobe (her names meaning "seven"(-mi) and "by the window"). Nanami can mean 777 too, so 777 by the window.
- She voices another Nanami in Dog Days.
- In a 2016 concert at Koshien Stadium, she wore a baseball shirt with the number 7 for the finale.
- She announced her marriage on 7 July 2020.
- Former Takarazuka Revue actress and seiyuu Hiroki Nanami has 773 (nana-nana-mi) as her Zuka fanclub number. It remains part of her brand after graduation, making it into her website and social media handles (@hirokinanami773).
- TV Tokyo's current mascot is a banana shaped liked the number seven (referring to their channel number) called Nanana.
- A section of the Tōkaidō Road in the Hakone region in Japan's Kanagawa prefecture is nicknamed Nanamagari, being a combination of "Nana" (Seven') and 'Magari' (a form of the verb 'Magaru', which means 'to bend') which refers to the main seven consecutive hairpins on the course. This mountain road is featured during the Fifth Stage of Initial D, as well as being featured as a course in the Initial D Arcade Stage series starting from 7 AAX.
7-7-7-7-7-7 Batman!
