Japanese names and what they evoke

Okay, so I am writing (at very very very slow steps) a manga style story, and realized I wanted to give more thought into the characters' names. I picked some of them from one of those sites with thousands of names and their meanings, got some that I thought sounded cool and stuff, but there is still a problem. What I really wanted was to know what kind of person a name evokes, it's not the "meaning" (like Hikari=light, Ichirou=first son, etc), but the kind of preset unwritten expectations about a name that only a huge cultural immersion could provide (for example, how can be easily explained how aglomerative names like Mary Joe or Billy Willie Ed or whatever sound redneck-ish?) So I'm asking for any troper that lived/live in Japan or had enough contact with te culture to give me some headers about the archetypes that some japanese names sound like, so I could play with them and stuff

It could be in form of a list of most common names, but since I already wrote some stuff using my own almost-randomly chosen ones, he are what I got:

The protag, a nerdy, slightly cloudcuckoolandish guy who enters the adventure trying to end his boredom but must learn to be serious about life, become mature and care about stuff to survive - Hiroshi

His more levelheaded brother who is only halfway important to plot, acts as a straight man most of the time (this one is relatively recent, I still haven't created much about him) - Hikaru (extremely provisional name here, will only stick with this "Hi"-theme naming if I don't come up with anything better)

A Rei-ish socially recluse blue-haired expression-less hikikomori with good sniping skills and a bad history with interpersonal interactions, more savvy about this whole competitive survival game that is going on (the plot itself, I'll explain later), and a possible love interest for the protag - Naoki/Naoko Tenryuu (originally it was the unissex Naoki, but when I realised that such name seems to be more used for men than not, I decided not to ramp up her tomboyish-ness that way)

A possible second love interest, haven't thought about that one apart of some sketches, could be a tsundere - no name yet

A cute looking 10 yrs old girl, who is actually a psychopatic serial killer who murdered her european parents a few years ago and now is living a life of nomadism killing people from town to town, has a penchant for classical music and likes to play the violin when not giving up to her primal urges - Yuuko/Yoko/Yomiko/Yoshiko/Yanna Viereckl (this one was tricky, I couldn't decide one name that sounded good for her, mostly because of this lack of cultural reference to base myself, so I just made both her parents europeans and gave her an western name and german surname)

there are other important characters that I didn't list here for having western names since the beginning, like the non-romantic female lead, Nena, an air-headed artificial alien who turns into a penguin but doesn't remember she was supposed to be Hiroshi's tutorial-guide for the battle thing the plot is, while giving him his respective personality-based power)

if I'm not being clear about something, let me know, I'm writing this here pretty late at night right now, need to sleep, and maybe I could have forgot some important info

edited 13th Sep '12 1:47:11 AM by ElectricBoogaloo

Do they need to have Japanese names? One can write a story influenced by an author's work without setting it in the writer's homeland.

Also, what do you actually mean by "manga-style"? Despite some stereotyped aesthetics, Japanese comics aren't really a monolithic entity by any means, and simply imitating the obvious elements will likely come off as shallow and derivative.

What I guess I'm trying to ask is this: What are you actually aiming for here?

http://www.behindthename.com/

Exactly What It Says on the Tin The site is my personal favorite.

From my own personal experience, which is as a non-Japanese going off by watching anime, making characters with Japanese/Japanese-sounding names myself and a very superficial understanding of Japanese culture - so take this with a grain of salt - I just go off the "vibe" I get from the name, combined with its more technical meaning which you're trying to do here. Also, keep in mind that certain names already evoke certain things due to pop culture (Rei used for more mysterious types, for example), this means that you might not have to worry to much, since if a character is popular enough, they'll rewrite prior preconceptions about their name to an extent.

For now, I'd say... Hiroshi is an all-round versatile name for any sort of protagonist, so barring my own ideas about it (I picture a more reserved guy having that name, for instance) it's a decent choice, but if you don't feel it's final other choices may suit better. Conversely, I think Hikaru would suit a more cheerful, or at least non-standoffish character. Maybe switch the brothers' names?

Naoko seems fine. The name right now is pretty ambiguous, but prior to Sword Art Online's popularity, so was Shino, who is very similar to Naoko on the surface. Could use some other choices if you're not sure, but I don't see a problem.

As for tsunderes, nearly anything goes. Their character types are pretty versatile that way, since the archetype can apply almost any kind of female design short of more deliberate ones (leaning towards Emotionless Girl territory, for example).

For the young girl, it probably depends on whether you want to play up her psychoness and cutesyness contrasting - in which case I suggest going with a more cute-sounding name - or her more refined tastes, in which case go for a more Ojou-ish name. Yoshiko I think is a nice balance between those elements, so that's my personal choice.

And... that's it from me. I guess I'll just repeat that I think you should consider switching the brothers' names. Hiroshi as a name gives me a more reserved vibe, probably because of its usage of more subdued vowels, while names like Hikaru, Haruka, Hikari and so far place more syllable emphasis on the more energetic "A". Try picturing them saying their own name. You can imagine a grinning character cheerfully saying their own name in mouthfuls, emphasising the "A's", while the more reserved character just barely opens their mouth to let the "O's", "U's" and to a lesser extent "I's" pass.

That's my two cents.

edited 7th Jun '14 10:59:20 PM by Nadir

Apologize for re-starting this thread, but I got this to ask: If you combine "月光" and "山," can you make "gekkouyama?"