New Japanese Law Stops Parents From Naming Their Baby 'Pikachu'
New Japanese Law Stops Parents From Naming Their Baby 'Pikachu'
33 comments
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Sometimes I am quite happy about strict german naming laws.
The first name ...
- must be recognizable as a first name
- must not be a widespread place name or brand name.
- must not be a family name. Exceptions have been made in particular for East Frisian middle names (for example “ten Doornkaat”) and for very rare, unusual surnames (for example Wannek, Birkenfeld), as well as of course for surnames that are mainly known as first names (such as Gerhart).
- may not denote a title such as Lord or Princess.
- does not have to be clearly masculine or feminine, as was the case until 2008, but may also be neutral.
- must not harm the child's welfare by ridiculing the child or creating a connection “to evil”
Pikachu absolutely falls under ridicule and maybe even brand name
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"does not have to be clearly masculine or feminine, as was the case until 2008, but may also be neutral."
If my child is a boy, I will name him fish. If a girl, Fishwife. If non-binary or it doesn't like the other names, scaly skin.
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(just in case people misunderstand and think I'm making a more pointed attack than I really am, I'm just making a reference to the 1880 essay "The Awful German Language" by Mark Twain)
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No maybe about that lol
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Well, duh. A baby Pikachu is called Pichu.
- 0 - 12 years old - Pichu
- 13 - 20 years old - Pikachu
- 21+ years old - Raichu
For Pacific islanders, at 21 they change their name to Alolan Raichu
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In middle age, they become Gorochu.
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Fine. Charmander it is.
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- WHA~?
- Go to sleep, Agumon. We're safe.
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My mom told me someone named their kids first name "Rebel Alliance"
That's a great way for your kid to hate star wars and you
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Good. I can't imagine any child appreciates growing up with a name like that.
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At least Pokemon names have a fun background.
Now imagine all the girls named Khaleesi after Game of Thrones. Especially after her character arc finished. That wasn't even her name, it was a title. They're literally just named Queen.
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This is actually not what this law does. The problem is that Japanese parents name their kids using kanji characters, except that they are using creative interpretations on the pronciation of those characters (YouTube short that can better explain the phenomenon). Basically, you can still name your kid Pikachu, it just has to be spelled like Pikachu
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But Snorlax is still on?
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Nah it’s kirakira names in general. So weird made-up readings, pop culture references 光宙 (pikachuu falls under both), foreign words, and taboo/denigrating names.
For example.
- 皇帝 (koutei) meaning emperor, read as Kaiser
- 光宙 (kou, light and chuu, space) read as Pikachuu
- 愛保 (ai, to love, and
goho, to keep) read as Rabuho (love hotel) - 宝冠 (takara, treasure and kanmuri, crown) read as Tiara.
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I don't believe it actually bans "Pikachu" when spelled as 光宙 because ピカチュウ is actually a pretty reasonable reading, although maybe not the #1 most obvious one. Based on a random Japanese article I read about it (link), I really don't think 光宙/Pikachu will be technically illegal, although all the English articles will say so because it's click fodder.
The law bans: things that are not related to the kanji reading at all, things that add unexpected extra stuff on the end of the obvious reading, or things that mean the opposite of what the kanji means.
I don't believe any of this applies to Pikachu, and the examples they cite are not really comparable.
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aren't there Japanese names that mean something shitty?
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Fine i'll name my kid Ekans you bunch of ingrates
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Diglett it is then
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Japan: people won't have kids we don't know why
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I knew about this story already, but damn if the article name doesn't make it seem like more of a big deal. (Strictly the article title. Your post title is more clear, I'm not referring to that)
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That's ok, digimon is cooler anyways.
33 comments