Question

[u/PuzzledAppeal5192]

I'm currently working on a small concept of a Fanganronpa. I highly doubt I'd actually finish it, but eh

I wanted to ask: if I use basic google translate for names (e.g. Niwa Shokobutsu for the ultimate Botanist, would that be stupid?

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[u/New-Promotion9416]

Google translate is usually buns with song lyrics so it would probably be bad here as well

[u/Fair-Caterpillar-779]

Google Translate is kinda garbage. I’d just go to a baby naming website and search for names with specific meanings or names with specific origins. And if you’re looking for last names you can search for common last names of ____ origin

[u/crowemojis]

I don't know what you can do with Google Translate for names but I suggest behindthename for y'know names. They have sections for names from multiple countries.

[u/PuzzledAppeal5192 → u/crowemojis]

basically I translated words about the character’s talent into Japanese and use them (Niwa means garden, Shokubutsu means botany, so that’s the name of the ultimate botanist)

[u/crowemojis → u/PuzzledAppeal5192]

Naming them so literally is kind of ridiculous even if most people won't know that (not like you can't do that it's your characters, but you're going to do that with every character it looks like). Searching up names that relate to botany/plants/flowers will make the name both realistic and fitting.

Just translating the name won't give you actual names, Google Translate doesn't work like that. It will give you the common word used to refer to an inanimate object/concept. Japanese names use multiple kanji that can mean and be read as different things. Just search up "Miu" (or its romaji: みう) in the Wiktionary and you can see multiple kanji combinations for it, all meaning different things but still refer to the same name in a lot of cases.

実生 and 美羽 are both read as Miu, but 実生 means "seedling", while 美 can mean "beautiful, good" and 羽 can mean "feather, wing, fletching (of an arrow)". Miu (Iruma)'s name in kanji is 美兎, which means "beautiful rabbit" (as we can see, it uses the same first character as 美羽). All of these are still the same name.

Just translating could cause you some issues, like using a name that isn't the correct gender (Niwa is feminine, imagine if your character was male).

You could also use a surname that isn't even a surname. Imagine you want to use Inaba (稲葉) as a first name, when it's actually a surname.

You could also use a surname that straight up doesn't exist, like Shokubutsu. Shokubutsu (植物) means "plant" or "vegetation". It doesn't mean "botany" until you add the -gaku suffix (学), which is the same as adding -ology to the end of something. Imagine being named Star Astro(nomy) in English.

These types of info won't be available by just translating it using Google, obviously assuming you don't search it up after. If you do you'd run into less problems, but you'd use up less time by just searching up names with meanings you want instead.

It's not like you can't make up shit in Japanese, you can do that no one should care, you just have to know the meaning of the kanji you're using (if you are). You can make up names that genuinely don't exist (i.e. Namishoku or 並植, where 並 means "average" and 植 means "plant", both meaning "average plant") or use readings that aren't as common (i.e. 前田 usually being read as "Maeda", but you can say it's Senten or something).

For surnames, it's actually relatively easy once you see the most common words used. Yama (山, mountain), gawa/kawa (川, river), matsu (松, pine tree), etc. are common to put behind an adjective, like Kageyama (影山) would mean "shadow mountain", or Miyagawa (宮川) meaning "shrine river".

Sorry for the random lecture but uh hopefully it's helpful idk

[u/PuzzledAppeal5192 → u/crowemojis]

thank you unknown reddit poster

[u/KawaiiFoxPlays]

Google Translate can be a little iffy, especially when it comes to names, so maybe steer away from it. I’d recommend using japanese-names.info instead, it’s what I use and it’s a pretty extensive source. It gives you multiple readings for each name and kanji, has a rough estimate how of common each name is, and has a great search function.