Japanese family name/personal name identifier

Name:

Hint: If the syllabic nasal "n" is followed by (1) a vowel or (2) a palatalized or labio-velarized syllable "y", then enter like this: "Jun'ichi", "Shin'ya"

What is this page?

According to the custom of English, the name of Japanese had been written in the order of "Personal name, Family name" in English since 19th century. In 2000, the Ministry of Education(*) decided to change this habit, and since then, all students in schools have been taught to write their names in the order of "Family name, Personal name" according to the custom of Japanese. So for several years, confusions may happen about the order.

This page identifies the order of the name of Japanese. For example, enter my name ("Nakamura Masaaki") in the textbox above and press "Identify." Which is my personal name?

(*) It was renamed to "Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology" in 2001.

Acknowledgment

The database of this page is build from EDICT (C) 1995 James William Breen. I really thank to his considerable works.


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