Name in japanese from Mononoke Hime

Hi! I was wondering about a name from the famous and awesome movie Mononoke hime (Princess Mononoke).

It's About Ashitaka's name.
Where is it from and what does it mean.Is it a common japanese name or is it simply just made up by Hayao?

From googling i found a page that said something about "ashi" =leg + "taka"= High (or something)

Or maybe just another Idea is that it's "Ashita ka" "tomorrow?"
That's probably not the case.

It's definitely not a common Japanese name. It was a name created by the creator.

Someone on their websites is *guessing* that, considering the characterization of "Ashitaka" that his ancestors lost in a war against the emperor several hundred years ago and fled to the north, where he lives now, that the name was maybe based on "ashitaka gumo" (tall/long-legged spider), which further was taken from the word maybe the creator associated with it, "tsuchi gumo," which is a derogatory name for people in the rural area who supposedly in the Japanese legends did not obey the ruler.

I agree AKfs view.
According to myth, the first emperor Jimmu conquered original inhabitants of Nara basin, and killed their chief. The chieffs name is Naga-sune-hiko’·ãø•F. gNaga(nagai)h means glongh, gsuneh means gleg or shinh. I found something common between the two (Nagasunehiko and Ashitaka).
See this page, article gJimmufs migrationh.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu

I consider this is one reason the anime is awesome, sympathy to every minority.