Samurai as a name

I am trying to convince my wife to let me use Samurai as a middle name for our upcommin son. I need to find it in print as a name? any ideas?

No, I would have to side with your wife as well :) it simply refers to a class of warriors from historical past, in a country not your own. Maybe if he grows really strong and big, he might *get* it as a nickname sometime later in his life (if the term "samurai" remains popular at that time), but not a good name to given at birth, IMHO.

I would just like to wish your son a great future and I hope that some day, when he meets any Japanese native, he can joke about how his father once tried to give him a silly middle name moreover not knowing that the kanji symbol can easily be found by a very quick internet search. But I have no idea why you need the symbol anyway. Or what do you mean by "print"? Just call him Takeshi.

You won't find it "in print as a name", because it isn't one.

Instead of naming him "Samurai", which is like giving him the name "Warrior", why not name him after a famous samurai?

Or give him the option of choosing a middle name when he is old enough to, like some parents do- then he can decide if he wants to write "Samurai" as his middle name on every application form he fills out for the rest of his life...

Just give him the middle name of Nobunaga, it sounds better than Samurai.

I have to agree with everybody else. Please don't name your child samurai. Rather name him after a famous samurai. For example, Soujiro. That sounds decent right?

Don't give your son a precious and affected middle name - even using the name of a famous Japanese historical figure will saddle him with endless questions throughout his life and certainly create questions about his parents judgment. Sounds as though you're perhaps living out a fantasy through your son. If it's so important to you, why not go to court and change your own middle name to "Samurai"?

I agree with all the posters. If you like the name so much, wear it yourself! just don't give suh a poisoned gift to your son. He will be a person, an individual with likes/ dislikes that may be very different from yours. He is not a toy or a pet. As one who was forced for many years to live his father dreams I can say that this is extremely unfair and cruel! (I did rebel when he planned an arranged marriage)

Like I said, call him Takeshi, cause it's a common name that implies samurai-ism. Just use it as a nickname if middle name is not possible.

I have two sons who has English and Japanese names for their 1st names because they are half Japanese half British. Their middle name are Taiyo (‘¾—z�jwhich means the sun, and Daichi(‘å’n�j which means the earth. Their English first names fit with those Japanese names. It is nice to have Japanese and English names together.

Heck, just name the kid Rambo or monster destroyer^2000

I really agree with everyone else- Please, Please, Please don't name him samurai! :-( As mentioned, naming him after a samurai would be ok.

even toshizo sounds better you know...

The positive side of Ryan's idea is that it's his kid's middle name. That makes hiding it an option if it's a drag.

I have a perfectly "acceptable" middle name, which I loathe. But I just don't use it. My wife only learned of it when we registered our marriage. It hasn't (as far as I can tell) affected my life or personality. Well, maybe it taught me how to keep a secret ....

I used to live in Japan, I speak Japanese, and remain connected to Japanese culture. We are not Japanese but we have given our 2 daughters European names that are easy for Japanese friends to pronounce and remember. I was always against the idea of giving non-Japanese children overtly Japanese names.

Partly it seemed unfair to the child to be used as an advertisement for parents' personal interests, partly it was a strong distaste for cultural appropriation. I knew many children of hippies who, as soon as they could, traded their real or phoney Indian names for regular ones.

But now we have a boy on the way, and an unexpected impulse has entered my head to name him Takumi, which is Japanese for Skill.

This goes against all of my previous notions, but it has stuck in my head. I am now trying to convince my wife (he is due in 2 months).

I really like the meaning, and the sound, and it isn't - to me - an awful match with our rather Jewish surname. And everyone in our world will have no trouble pronouncing it.

So I say, Ryan: take a deep breath and ask yourself on your child's behalf - is it really what we want?

And then do what you feel is right.

eh daddy to be, How about Ronin? it is close enough to Ronald (Ron) that your English speaking friends and relatives will not freak out too much. of course you do know the meaning of it !!!??

What does Ira mean by "we"? And by intimating that the other guy should "do what's right"? Does the mother have any say in this?

I am sure Ira meant by "we" Ryan and his family. It is obvious that the parents decide on a child's name, therefore the mother has 50% say in it.

We means my wife and myself. Isn't it obvious?

(She thinks I waste time on the internet. She might be right.)

What's happened to Ryan, the OP, anyway? Irritating when someone starts a dicussion and then disappears. Maybe he got singed by all the flaming.

I read it more universally: Is it what we (as fathers) really want (for our children)?

Yeah, well ... that too!

Now, since we're all here, and my wife already has 'that' look on heer face, a question.

Anybody heard of someone with a really odd Japanese name? I used to work with a guy whose nickname was Kuzu, which reminded me of the kudzu plant. He was half Japanese, so at least one parent would have been aware.