| WilliamW, it seems your statement is wrong. In Japanese, Chinese names remain their original form, i.e. Kanji alone. It is same for Japanese names in Chinese language. It is easy to distinguish Chinese and Japanese names by surnames and number of characters. Most Chinese names are 2-3 characters while Japanese names are 4-6 characters.
Please visit the Japanese site for detailed usage: www.asahi.com bigbro, your first post makes some point on explain why Chinese use English names more popular than others. Yes, maybe Chinese see names in a more flexible way than others. But I still think the argument is not very strong. Alternate naming is only an ancient heritage, which ancient Japanese also have (though not as much as Chinese). For modern people, I don't find much influence and link from it. Instead, I find that Chinese people has kept much less traditions than Japanese, Indians, Malays, Arabics etc. This may be the true reason! |
Why I Don't Have an English Name