The secret of naming. vol.1
We asked some dads who are good at measuring things.

The cherry blossom season is over, and April is almost over. I can't wait for Golden Week in May.
I'm sure you're all making various plans.

And during this season, carp streamers can be seen here and there around town.

"Children's Day" on May 5th was originally called "Tango no Sekku" (Boys' Day), and was a day when people would decorate carp streamers in hopes of children's growth. I believe that both the small carp streamers displayed on apartment balconies and the majestic carp streamers fluttering in the gardens of private homes contain the many wishes that parents have for their children.

With Children's Day approaching, I suddenly thought about "children's names." If you think about it, your own name is strange. Before you know it, it's given to you, you can't choose it yourself, and it's something you basically have to live with for the rest of your life. It's a big responsibility for the person who gives the name...? So today, we asked some "measured dads" about naming their children.

1. The Matsunaga family

Eldest daughter: Tsubaki, 6 years old Eldest son: Ken, 1 year old

Why this name?:
When it came to our first daughter, there were many female names related to flowers and plants in my wife's family, so we decided to follow suit and researched names of flowers from winter to spring to match the due date (January). Among them, we were inspired by the character "Tsubaki" and thought "Ah! That's nice." We looked up the number of strokes and other things and there were no particular problems, so we decided on it easily. When we saw her face after she was born, the name Tsubaki didn't seem strange to us, probably because she has a rather Japanese face. We usually call her "Tsuba."

When it came to my eldest son, I wanted a name that would be easy to pronounce overseas, and I remember that "Ken" often appeared in English textbooks (laughs). My wife and I had originally talked about how the character "Ken" would be good, so we thought about "Kenichi", but we decided to go with one kanji character this time as well. In my family, both my father and I (Satoru) have one kanji character, so we matched that. Everyone calls him "Ken-chan".

Surprisingly, naming our two children went smoothly. Neither my wife nor I had any particular preferences, so it just seemed to come naturally.

2. The Kojima Family

Eldest son: Ichito, 5 months old

Why this name?:
For some reason, people around me said, "It's definitely a girl," so while reading a naming book with my wife, I decided on "Minori" because of the strokes and how easy it was to pronounce. But when we found out the gender at 7 months, it was a boy. I threw out the Minori idea (lol). From there, I started thinking quickly, and my wife recommended the old-fashioned name "Taro." But I have a friend who has that, so I rejected it in 5 seconds. We thought of a lot of names, including "Sho" and "Kiyota"... while checking the strokes of the characters.

So when I told my parents about the name candidates, they didn't respond well to any of them... When I asked them, they said they really wanted to include the character "ichi" from my name (Kazuhiro). The "shima" and "ichi" in Kojima have really nice strokes. From there, I started thinking about a name based on "ichi". My wife's family was named after the Five Virtues of Confucianism (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith), so I wanted to combine this with the name, and after considering the strokes and sound, I decided on "Ichitomo".

After that, I researched how to read the name and decided to go with either "Ichi" or "Ichito". The moment I saw his face after he was born, I immediately decided that he was not an "Ichi" but an "Ichito" face. I thought about the name for more than half a year, and it was a lot of fun. My wife was having fun, but I was more enthusiastic and thought about it all the time (laughs).

3. The Onogi Family

Eldest daughter: Tamaki, 5 years old Second daughter: Amane, 2 years old

Why this name?:
My last name is "Onogi" and it's three characters, so I thought a one-character kanji name would be well-balanced. I named my eldest daughter "Tamaki" because I liked Tamaki Ogawa... just kidding (lol). I didn't want a sparkly name, and I wanted a slightly old-fashioned one. When I was looking at a naming book, I saw that "Tamaki" means "to go around," and I wanted her to have a life where many things go around and lots of happiness comes her way. There were other candidates, but when my wife and I saw her face after she was born, we said, "It's Tamaki!" She had a Japanese-style face and looked like a daifuku (a type of mochi) and it looked delicious.

When I found out that the second child was also a girl, I ran out of ideas for the character, which was crazy (laughs). I was looking for a name that was Japanese, old-fashioned, and one character, and then I heard how to read the kanji "Amaneku." Amaneku means "wide, spreading to the edge," and when combined with my eldest daughter's name, Tamaki, which means "meguru," it feels like it's spreading and going around. I thought the combination of Tamaki and Ya was nice.

I had thought of other names, but in the end I decided on "Amane" because it looked like her face. I don't think it's a fancy name, but I'm sure no one would be able to read it...

I was touched by the secrets behind the naming of the Monosasa dads, and how much thought goes into each name. Keywords like "Japanese style" and "old-fashioned" were common, and there were many comments saying, "I finally decided on the name after seeing the face of the baby after it was born." I see, I see.

Whatever the name, it's a wonderful gift.
I hope you all grow up healthily!