Japanese Nicknames - How to Read

A nickname is a expressive name given in place of or suplemental to the given name of a person, place or object. It can also be the simple or truncated form of the given name which may occasionaly be used simply for easy of use (e.g. "Barbara", "Barb" or "Bert" for the name Robert). A nickname is sometimes considered desirable, reflecting a form of acceptance, but at times can be seen as a method of ridicule..

It is commonpalce in Japanese naming of nicknames to create abbreviations by using the first two sounds of two given names. Perhaps the most popular of these examples would be, KimuTaku, the nickname of super famous Japanese actor and singer, Kimura Takuya of the Japanese boy band group SMAP.

The same practice is also applied to foreign celebrities such as Brad Pitt who is more affectionately known as Burapi, Jimi Hendrix becomes the somewhat 'kawaii' sounding Jimihen and Leonardo DiCaprio shortens to the rather oddly imagined Dikapuri.

Furthermore, for any given Japanese female name or Japanese male name there are one or more warmhearted nicknames. To make these we simply add the ending "-chan" to a stem. There are two kinds of stem. One consists of the full given name. Examples of this type are Tar?-chan from Tar?, Kimiko-chan. The other form of stem is a modified stem derived from the full given name.

Examples of these names are: Taro-chan from Tar?, Kii-chan from Kimiko. "-kun" is used to talk to men who are younger or the same age as the speaker. A man might address female inferiors by "-kun" usually in schools or offices. It can be attached to both surnames and given names. It isn't used amongst women or when talking to one's seniors.

Overall suffixes such as chan and kun soften the name giving it an warmhearted, younger feeling. However, it's not unheard of to see women address each other as -chan well into their later years of life. I find such practice endearing whenever I hear it.