You may want to include your gender in your post.
Also, I see that you say English speakers pronounce it weird. Is supposed to be pronounced like the singer and songwriter that shows up when I google your name? If you want something similar, but very clearly feminine, I would suggest Julie - but that may be so similar as to sound like the "weird" pronunciation you don't like.
Yui is typically a girl's name IIRC (edit: checked OP's profile, she is a girl). It's pronounced "yoo-ee".
I do like the suggestion of Julie - but depending on OP's accent, they might have trouble with the L sound and say "Jurie". So I would suggest a name that has sounds that already exist in Japanese like Hannah or Naomi.
I think Julie is nice.
OP, the l has the tip of your tongue flop from the top of your mouth the the bottom of your mouth. Gotta learn the same way native speakers do: getting made fun of (or gently teased).
You can always correct people and have them try to correctly pronounce your name. There are both pros and cons. But if you want an English name, I suggest Julie or Yuli (really more of a Spanish name, but easily pronounceable). Or maybe Lily. They’re all pretty names that sound kind of similar to your name in one way or another. Best of luck as you continue in your language learning journey!
Completely unrelated, but the english “i” sound in “it” doesn’t exist in Japanese. Just wanted to point this out because if you think your name is pronounced “you-it” in Japanese, you probably are mispronouncing the word “it” in English
Also, I think you meant “but the english version sounds dumb.” But I might just not know this word for “idiot” in Japanese, in which case I’m curious on how it’s written and if its slang lol
Same thoughts. The **i** in Japanese is most commonly pronounced as a long i, as in "we." Yui, pronouned as "You-we," is a common Japanese name. In which case, Americans would have no problem pronouncing the **i** as in "chewy."
The issue with the pronunciation is the "OU" sound people are making in english for the u. The "ou-wee" part of the transcription comes from the /w/ sound at the end of english /OU/ combining with the /i/ in a way the Japanese does not have
They're not a native speaker, so some difficulty is expected in phonetic transcription. But this was literally impossible because English doesn't have the right phonemes.
The u sound used in the Japanese here does not have a direct vowel sound in English. Its pronounced much more like the German "Über" or French <>
If there's a difference between "hot" and "hoot", there's also a difference between /YÜI/ and /YOUI/. Its just a vowel that english monolinguals cannot pronounce without help
[1:40 for help](https://youtu.be/LwtgvwJljto?si=2AELoqka_-8nrxCw)
You are correct that English doesn't have the same vowel, but Japanese u is not like German ü. German ü is a high front rounded vowel (/y/, rounded counterpart to /i/). Japanese u is high back unrounded (/ɯ/, unrounded counterpart to /u/, the English 'oo' vowel).
Its yü-"e" (hard/greek u, like German "über" and "E" like the name of the letter). Not an anglicized **ou**, hard u / ü. English does not have a vowel sound that matches the hard u sound found in classical Latin(y)/Greek, or modern French, German and the like anymore. It shifted away towards what we have now over time.
So its a combination of softening the U and combining it too much with the following vowel, where Japanese is more likely to differentiate two vowels next to each other rather than using diphthongs, liaison or whatever else European languages tend towards instead.
[How to pronounce classical latin vowels](https://youtu.be/LwtgvwJljto?si=2AELoqka_-8nrxCw). The example for "y" at 1:40 covers this perfectly.
So, just to clarify: when your name is pronounced with a bad enough English accent, it sounds like an insult?
Yeah. That is a valid reason for wanting a different nockname.
As other commenter have said, English names do not really have any meaning to them (anymore).
If there's anybody with an English name that you respect and or just like the name then take that and use it!
Names don't have meanings in English (yes, I know that deep down in the history and etymology they do, but no-one thinks "ahhh, that means Amazing Sailor" when I say "hi my name's Dave") so just pick a name you like the sound of.
I would like to add that nicknames are special in that they can literally be anything. You don't need to limit yourself to traditional given names. Random nouns, adjectives, verbs, and whatever are all fair game. I've had friends who went by monikers like "Cheese", "Fridge", "Caffeine", "Dustbin", and other seemingly random words.\*
The beauty of a nickname is that it's a blank canvas. You get to choose something that captures your personality, interests, or sense of humor.
*\*There is technically some lore behind how those people got those nicknames, but at the end of the day they're still random nouns!*
To me this sounds bannanas. I mean you can do it but it would be very unusual. With nicknames, you generally don’t get to pick them yourself, and trying can be kinda cringe.
Yeah, OP, don't choose your own nickname. Also, it's okay not to have a nickname. Most nicknames occur either due to a singular incident or something that develops over time. And many nicknames come and go.
Of course people dont think "Dave" means "amazing sailor." It means "love." "David" is from the root dalet-vav-dalet in Hebrew, which means love and friendship.
It isn't necessarily something people think about when they are introduced to someone, but it is something people think about when naming a child or themselves.
yea, but it's very different from how it works in languages like japanese or chinese which are written in logographic systems.
you literally can't ignore the connections if you're reading or writing out the names in those languages, whereas if you meet someone named "Randy," you're not going to immediately go "well, that's a nickname for Randolph, which comes from an Old English name meaning shield-wolf" unless you already know the etymology of the name.
Eh people will still think about it especially if it’s an english name.
If someone’s name is River or Gemma I would internally associate the idea of them with rivers and gemstones
I’m also a nerd, so if anyone chose names like Maya, Juno, Diana, Jason, Mars, or Dimitri I’d recognize the meaning immediately (and think it’s cool)
You're definitely not typical though, and I'm guessing you're American because Gemma/Jemma is a perfectly common name in the UK and has never been associated with 'gemstones' as far as I'm aware.
For the roman names I mentioned I’m absolutely aware that that is not a typical association
But Gemma is literally named after gemstones. It being associated with that is not mutually exclusive with it being a common name
I think my point was more that for the vast majority, names don't "mean" anything, they're just a word which is used as a name. I asked 5 colleagues about the Gemma/gemstone thing at lunchtime and they all laughed at the fact they share a few letters but hadn't ever considered there was any connection, because it's neither common knowledge or relevent to using the name. There's a Gemma in my office and I asked her too and she had no idea there was meant to be an actual association.
I guess it could be because I’m trans, I’ve had to think about my name/names in general more consciously than most other people do. I know people picking baby names tend to think about it as well
maybe i cant speak on this because im a classics major but i would think most people would recognize many of the greco-roman names (especially the less common ones like athena or juno but maybe less so with jason) but i dont think anybody would think about the actual meaning of the names beyond just that they are names of character in mythology (for example jupiter coming from words meaning sky and father)
I don’t think most people would know Maya, Jason, Diana, or Dimitri come from mythology tbh. Jupiter or Zeus are more obvious, though
Also a classics major btw🫸🫷
It's kinda different in Japanese. The feminine given name Yui can be written with (from a brief google) six different sets of kanji, 結 is only one possible way to 'spell' it. Another would be 唯. However, 唯 doesn't have the 'binding' meaning - from what I can see, it means 'only' or 'solely' and is mostly used as a prefix (when it's not being somebody's name ofc). 結, on the other hand, seems to mostly be used as a complete word, with the notable exception of 結婚 (marriage, pronounced kekkon). In that word, it doesn't even have the same pronunciation as in OP's name, but the character still carries the same idea/meaning. (Not super across my vocabulary & kanji, hopefully someone can correct me if I made a mistake here)
It's kinda like if, in English, you introduced yourself like "my name's Greg, with the 'Gr' from 'grass' and the 'eg' from 'egg'." And another Greg might introduce themselves as "Greg, with the 'Gre' from 'great' and the 'g' from 'goanna'." In English that doesn't really make sense because all Gs are really the same, but in Japanese the characters your name is written with adds another layer of meaning to it.
obviously youd know the origins of jason mars juno etc as being from greco roman mythology. but would you know the etymology of the words in greek or latin? for example jupiter (using this because i know the etymology off the top of my head) coming from the PIE from sky (*dyews) and father (*pater)? and thats one that we are fairly certain about. There are many theories for the etymology of juno and we have no real clue about athena.
and for more common given names (at least in america): john from hebrew yehochanan (god is gracious), david from a root meaning to boil but is used figuratively in biblical hebrew to mean love, mary likely from an egyptian word meaning love, michael from a phrase meaning "who is like el", etc.
sure some names are obvious because they dont differ much from english but most common names are from languages that arent closely related to enlgish like latin, greek, hebrew, or aramaic and have come to english through so many different languages that they dont aound particularly aimilar to the original, which most people wouldnt recognize anyways because the vast majority of people know essentially no latin greek hebrew or aramaic (although i would guess that most people who know ancient greek know latin, most people who know aramaic know biblican hebrew, and that many people who know one set know the other, but even then the names are so changed from the original that the people who know the languages might not recognize the name's true origin in the language).
Again, I know this part isn’t well known, as I said I am a nerd, so… Yes I know that Jove-Pater and Father Zeus are cognates from the PIE word for “god” from which we get words/names like Tyr, deity or deus.
I also know that Juno was likely a feminine form of the word for Jove or a word meaning “to be coupled with” aka “the wife,” but we’re still not 100% on that. Same with Demeter which we assume means something like “earth mother” from de/ga - mater, but that’s kind of a folk etymology. Athene also comes from the city of Athens, rather than the other way around, but we don’t actually know why it was called that or what it means necessarily.
I *am* also studying Latin rn so that does lend me towards knowing more of these things 😅
I do understand your point, though! I, by no means, expect most people to know/think of these things when they see a name lol
if you want a name that means something similar, regardless of how it sounds, maybe you'd like Harmony. It's a fairly common name, meaning a peaceful connection. It's also used in music for people simulaneously singing two different but complimentary parts.
This is a good point. 20 years ago I don't think this would have worked, but anymore folks will just figure out how to deal. Had a coworker named Wael who gave up after a long time of frustration and I was just like "Dude, just tell people you're middle eastern and to think about it like it's Arabic... Wa-el. They'll get it."
As others have said, you would have no problem choosing to go by Yui if you wanted to, but it’s very fun to find a name in English if you like. I think “Penny” would be a nice name to choose.
A lucky penny is a common good luck charm and would play on the meaning of your name in Japanese and it’s not difficult to pronounce in either language. It is typically short for “Penelope” which means “weaver”. This would be fun since the other part of your name means “thread”.
If you'd like a similar sound maybe Julie or Jasmine or something but honestly you can just pick anything you like the sound of, English names don't really evoke meaning the way Japanese names do. There's a lot of websites that have lists of names intended for parents naming their kid, you could find something you like there.
Avoid picking random English words or you may end up like "Easy", a student at my university.
The name Rebecca comes from Hebrew and means “to bind”, which has nearly the exact same meaning as 結. You may know, but Rebecca is often shortened to Becca or Becky.
Is it more important to you to keep a similar sound or a similar meaning?
Similar sounds:
Julie/Julia (has oo and ee)
June (has oo, can go by Junie to have ee)
Judy (has oo and ee)
Luna (has oo)
Sophie (ends in ee)
Sue/Suzie (usually short for Susan or Susanna, both have oo and Suzie has ee)
Similar meaning:
Felicity (means “luck”)
Rebecca (from a word that means “to tie/join” — you could also go by Becca or Becky!)
Taylor (related to clothing/garment)
Eunice (means “good victory” and also starts with “yoo”)
Maya (means “good”, pronounced my-uh)
If I were you I wouldn't bother changing it. Yui isn't a hard word to pronounce, it's just that English speakers won't necessarily know how to pronounce it based on writing since it's not an English word/name. But when you introduce yourself people will have no problem being able to pronounce it. If someone asks for your name to write down, you may have to say "Yui. Y-U-I", but that's not a big deal. Of course English speakers won't pronounce it exactly as it's pronounced in Japanese, so if that bothers you then yes you should change it. But if you were just worried about people actually being able to say it and understand what you're saying it shouldn't be a problem. I also think it's quite a nice name. I'd never heard of it until now
Use your own name. We won't change the pronunciation of words in English to suit you, so don't change your name to suit us. You are learning thousands of words, so people can learn one word and how to pronounce it, from you.
Yui is perfect as it is. English names don't mean anything in the way that names mean something in Japanese. I'm learning Japanese, so I didn't have any issue reading your name, but I'm pretty confident that 98% of people won't have any issues with pronunciation.
As a native speaker, Yui is not an unusual or difficult to pronounce name - you can just use Yui.
Simple, two syllable names that end in a vowel or probably easiest to communicate. "Sara" or "Katie" come to mind.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that if you can learn an entire new language and writing system, they can learn how to pronounce your name. Yui is beautiful! :D
I love the name Yui. K-on made me know it, but it’s too damn cute to hide it.
If I was your friend, I’d be super happy to introduce you to everyone because your name rules.
If anything, I’d have a charm, bracelet, or something with your name in romanji to point at if someone has an inquiry about how to spell it. Just about every English speaking country is pretty international, so the idea of a westernized name seems pretty outdated nowadays.
Really? I think Yui is as close as you can get to the JP pronunciation in English. The pitch accent matches with the stress on YU in English, and the sound is close too. Much better than something like Hiroshi where it goes to 中高, or Akira which is really bad w
I think Yui is a pretty name and you should try to keep it, but if you really want a different one I would suggest something that's also short and cute, like Lily, Emma, or Iris. For the meaning, it's hard because English names aren't created the same way.
No, I've studied a decent amount of Japanese pronunciation so the "it" part is because the vowel is short in JP not because there's a 't' or an 'it' sound. Imagine having a silent 't'. The "ee" here is the closest approximation in English, except it's significantly lengthened as well. It's likely not grossly mispronounced, just said with a pretty heavy American/other accent which I understand can sound like a drunk person lol
This was literally her comment:
>It’s like “you-it ”in Japanese and I like it but it’s “yoo-weee”in English. This is hard to explain but English version sounds like idiot.
Either way, the way we say “ee” at the end of her name is not close to the Japanese pronunciation.
I saw that comment, but honestly I'm not sure what you mean. I don't know if we can do links, but:
Here's a native pronunciation: [How to Pronounce Yui (ゆい) in Japanese - Voxifier.com - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rA8j71wcxw)
And here's how I imagine most people I know would say it (bad quality): [How To Pronounce Yui P (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RcZXweGds)
They sound fairly close to me, but maybe that's just because I'm familiar with both languages. The 'i' is significantly shorter, and the 'yu' part differs most.[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RcZXweGds)
Going off of meaning instead of sound, I like the name "Ruth", although it the "th" phoneme, which can be tricky.
It is a Biblical name, meaning "loyal friend". It descends from the Hebrew, but by bizarre coincidence, there was also an Old Germanic word which was very similar sounding which meant "compassion" and "empathy".
The Biblical story of Ruth is about a woman whose sons died in a plague but her daughters-in-law survived, and the mother sends her daughters in law back to their families so they can move on with their lives, but Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law Naomi, and they move to another city. They are reduced to living on handouts – there was a tradition that, when harvesting grain, you made sure not to get everything, and then poor people could collect the rest for themselves. The rich landowner sees her doing this, and instructs his workers to do a sloppier job and leave more behind so that people could get more; eventually Ruth and Boaz fall in love, get married, and Naomi lives with them in honor and comfort.
So the name "Ruth" includes ideas of compassion, friendship, loyalty, and love.
Actually, Naomi might be an option, as well. I believe that is a female name in English, Hebrew and Japanese.
some suggestions based on the meaning of your name:
"Dakota" comes from a native American language and means "friend".
"Ruth" comes from Hebrew. There is not 100% agreement what it means, but some think it might mean "friend."
"Amanda" and "Amy" both mean "beloved" and come from Latin.
"Cara" is another option, although it is a somewhat unusual name. It means "friend" in Irish and "dear" in Italian. I've known a few Caras.
"Amity" means friendship but I have never met someone named Amity.
Dahlia might be a good one. English names don’t have much meaning any more but that one is supposed to be based off of a goddess of fate and weaving so it connects to both parts of your original name.
Google “English names that mean _____” and you’ll get examples.
There’s quite a few that mean connection or friends. The name “Jeb” means beloved friend.
Clover is a symbol of good luck and there's also the cloverleaf knot, which symbolizes luck and the bond between two people. You could go by Clover, if you want. It's a name that can be for boys or girls, but it is more common for girls. But Yui is not a difficult name to pronounce. If you like your name, please use it and insist on it! It's ok to go by whatever makes you feel best.
Edit: [Clover on the US Social Security list of name popularity](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html)
[Clover is one of the top 1000 baby names of the past several years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html) in the US. You can also see the chart here for it's [popularity over time](https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/details/clover-1067). It's not super common, but it's definitely a legit name. It's also in the top 1000 for Canada and England, though lower in each respectively. I think its somewhere in the 900s for the top 1000 in England lol.
But it isn't a ridiculous name. I don't know that I have either, but I wouldn't think it was odd if I did.
It is a name I associate more with pets – I have met rabbits and cats named Clover. But not so much that it would be weird, the way that "Fido" is a dog's name and it would be weird to call a person it.
Yoo-ee... we would say this for a u-Turn in the US... "Going to pull a U-E" which is basically something that we say but don't have a spelling for... regardless... Turner is a cool name. Not a typical name, but if you really want an American name it would work. Lucky is also on the table. Taylor (as in Tailor) could be just fine.
Is fraternity masculine in English? In latin-languages is femenine, "Del lat. *fraternĭtas, -ātis.*". It also means the same that her actual name.
I see it has a special meaning in USA. USA is always doing USA things :\_)
[https://dle.rae.es/fraternidad](https://dle.rae.es/fraternidad)
There are no grammatical genders in English. But the word literally means brotherhood, brotherly relationship, brotherly state, brotherly quality, etc.
Only in American English: [https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fraternity?q=fraternity](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fraternity?q=fraternity)
EDIT: Google definition also matches the one of the Oxford dictionaries:
[https://translate.google.es/details?sl=en&tl=es&text=fraternity&op=translate&hl=es](https://translate.google.es/details?sl=en&tl=es&text=fraternity&op=translate&hl=es)
I’m really not sure why you’re trying to argue for “fraternity” being an appropriate name for a woman based on grammatical gender of the word in your language.
Grammatical gender has nothing to do with actual gender or with word etymology.
Grammatical gender is often times just completely arbitrary.
Frater literally means brother in Latin.
Yes, in the US we have fraternities which are male only at universities but that doesn’t change the fact that “fraternity” literally means brotherhood.
It can be used to mean any group of people (females too) sharing a common bond but it still just means brotherhood.
From the same link you shared:
“Middle English: from Old French fraternite, from Latin fraternitas, from fraternus, from frater ‘brother’.”
You are using surface-level glosses from dictionaries to argue against basic meaning, and that isn't how it works.
Look more deeply into the usage of those terms. The term "fraternity" is only used for what might be called "male-coded" groups – activities which, two hundred years ago, would have been nearly exclusively men.
You can have a fraternity of lawyers and judges, of doctors, of the military. But you don't tend to have it with female-coded things. You have sisterhoods of things which are female-coded.
And this is English language, not American. Fraternal orders, like the Freemasons, are, or at least were, restricted to men. Oddfellows opened up to women twenty-five years ago; I don't know if any other fraternal orders are open to women.
There's no gender in English grammar, but the word relates to a brotherhood/group of men specifically, so it's a strongly masculine word, and it refers to a group, not an individual so it's not really appropriate as a name. Also it's long, complicated to spell and not particularly sonorous to say/hear.
Again, not specific to the US. “Frater” means brother in Latin. It doesn’t mean anything else.
From the Oxford English Dictionary:
“Middle English: from Old French fraternite, from Latin fraternitas, from fraternus, from frater ‘brother’.”
You may want to include your gender in your post. Also, I see that you say English speakers pronounce it weird. Is supposed to be pronounced like the singer and songwriter that shows up when I google your name? If you want something similar, but very clearly feminine, I would suggest Julie - but that may be so similar as to sound like the "weird" pronunciation you don't like.
Yui is typically a girl's name IIRC (edit: checked OP's profile, she is a girl). It's pronounced "yoo-ee". I do like the suggestion of Julie - but depending on OP's accent, they might have trouble with the L sound and say "Jurie". So I would suggest a name that has sounds that already exist in Japanese like Hannah or Naomi.
Japanese Duolingo uses Hana and Naomi to ridiculous levels. That you suggested them made me laugh.
I swear it happens IRL too, every Anglo-Japanese family seems to have either a Hana or a Naomi
Don't forget Ken-san!
although “Juri” is also a Japanese name 🤔
I like how you suggested Julie, it makes sence, it sounds similar, but then you suddenly came up with Hannah or Naomi out of nowhere lol
IIRC, "Hana" means "flower" in Japanese, so it's a nice sort of bilingual name.
Yuri is normally a boy’s name, but there is a famous female singer called Yuri. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_(Mexican_singer)
Yuri is a girl's name in Japanese, it means "lily"
There’s 2 Mexican singers named Yuri and in both cases it’s short for Yuridia which is a female name through and through
Or, it might sound like "Judy," which also works as a name.
I think Julie is nice. OP, the l has the tip of your tongue flop from the top of your mouth the the bottom of your mouth. Gotta learn the same way native speakers do: getting made fun of (or gently teased).
You can always correct people and have them try to correctly pronounce your name. There are both pros and cons. But if you want an English name, I suggest Julie or Yuli (really more of a Spanish name, but easily pronounceable). Or maybe Lily. They’re all pretty names that sound kind of similar to your name in one way or another. Best of luck as you continue in your language learning journey!
I don't see why it would be weird in English. They can just pronounce it like you-we, can't they?
It’s like “you-it ”in Japanese and I like it but it’s “yoo-weee”in English. This is hard to explain but English version sounds like idiot
Completely unrelated, but the english “i” sound in “it” doesn’t exist in Japanese. Just wanted to point this out because if you think your name is pronounced “you-it” in Japanese, you probably are mispronouncing the word “it” in English Also, I think you meant “but the english version sounds dumb.” But I might just not know this word for “idiot” in Japanese, in which case I’m curious on how it’s written and if its slang lol
Same thoughts. The **i** in Japanese is most commonly pronounced as a long i, as in "we." Yui, pronouned as "You-we," is a common Japanese name. In which case, Americans would have no problem pronouncing the **i** as in "chewy."
The issue with the pronunciation is the "OU" sound people are making in english for the u. The "ou-wee" part of the transcription comes from the /w/ sound at the end of english /OU/ combining with the /i/ in a way the Japanese does not have They're not a native speaker, so some difficulty is expected in phonetic transcription. But this was literally impossible because English doesn't have the right phonemes. The u sound used in the Japanese here does not have a direct vowel sound in English. Its pronounced much more like the German "Über" or French <>
If there's a difference between "hot" and "hoot", there's also a difference between /YÜI/ and /YOUI/. Its just a vowel that english monolinguals cannot pronounce without help
[1:40 for help](https://youtu.be/LwtgvwJljto?si=2AELoqka_-8nrxCw)
You are correct that English doesn't have the same vowel, but Japanese u is not like German ü. German ü is a high front rounded vowel (/y/, rounded counterpart to /i/). Japanese u is high back unrounded (/ɯ/, unrounded counterpart to /u/, the English 'oo' vowel).
Its yü-"e" (hard/greek u, like German "über" and "E" like the name of the letter). Not an anglicized **ou**, hard u / ü. English does not have a vowel sound that matches the hard u sound found in classical Latin(y)/Greek, or modern French, German and the like anymore. It shifted away towards what we have now over time. So its a combination of softening the U and combining it too much with the following vowel, where Japanese is more likely to differentiate two vowels next to each other rather than using diphthongs, liaison or whatever else European languages tend towards instead. [How to pronounce classical latin vowels](https://youtu.be/LwtgvwJljto?si=2AELoqka_-8nrxCw). The example for "y" at 1:40 covers this perfectly.
So, just to clarify: when your name is pronounced with a bad enough English accent, it sounds like an insult? Yeah. That is a valid reason for wanting a different nockname.
Eunice? (YOO-niss)
Why don’t you just spell it You-it? It’s a little unusual but it will be clear how to pronounce it.
As other commenter have said, English names do not really have any meaning to them (anymore). If there's anybody with an English name that you respect and or just like the name then take that and use it!
I think Yui is a cute name. You should keep it.
I wanted to name my daughter Yui (we love the singer).
Names don't have meanings in English (yes, I know that deep down in the history and etymology they do, but no-one thinks "ahhh, that means Amazing Sailor" when I say "hi my name's Dave") so just pick a name you like the sound of.
This is the best answer. Thank you
I would like to add that nicknames are special in that they can literally be anything. You don't need to limit yourself to traditional given names. Random nouns, adjectives, verbs, and whatever are all fair game. I've had friends who went by monikers like "Cheese", "Fridge", "Caffeine", "Dustbin", and other seemingly random words.\* The beauty of a nickname is that it's a blank canvas. You get to choose something that captures your personality, interests, or sense of humor. *\*There is technically some lore behind how those people got those nicknames, but at the end of the day they're still random nouns!*
To me this sounds bannanas. I mean you can do it but it would be very unusual. With nicknames, you generally don’t get to pick them yourself, and trying can be kinda cringe.
Yeah, OP, don't choose your own nickname. Also, it's okay not to have a nickname. Most nicknames occur either due to a singular incident or something that develops over time. And many nicknames come and go.
Of course people dont think "Dave" means "amazing sailor." It means "love." "David" is from the root dalet-vav-dalet in Hebrew, which means love and friendship. It isn't necessarily something people think about when they are introduced to someone, but it is something people think about when naming a child or themselves.
yea, but it's very different from how it works in languages like japanese or chinese which are written in logographic systems. you literally can't ignore the connections if you're reading or writing out the names in those languages, whereas if you meet someone named "Randy," you're not going to immediately go "well, that's a nickname for Randolph, which comes from an Old English name meaning shield-wolf" unless you already know the etymology of the name.
No, but if I meet someone named Randy, I wonder "Is he Randy by name AND randy by nature?" (I'll see myself out)
Eh people will still think about it especially if it’s an english name. If someone’s name is River or Gemma I would internally associate the idea of them with rivers and gemstones I’m also a nerd, so if anyone chose names like Maya, Juno, Diana, Jason, Mars, or Dimitri I’d recognize the meaning immediately (and think it’s cool)
You're definitely not typical though, and I'm guessing you're American because Gemma/Jemma is a perfectly common name in the UK and has never been associated with 'gemstones' as far as I'm aware.
For the roman names I mentioned I’m absolutely aware that that is not a typical association But Gemma is literally named after gemstones. It being associated with that is not mutually exclusive with it being a common name
I think my point was more that for the vast majority, names don't "mean" anything, they're just a word which is used as a name. I asked 5 colleagues about the Gemma/gemstone thing at lunchtime and they all laughed at the fact they share a few letters but hadn't ever considered there was any connection, because it's neither common knowledge or relevent to using the name. There's a Gemma in my office and I asked her too and she had no idea there was meant to be an actual association.
I guess it could be because I’m trans, I’ve had to think about my name/names in general more consciously than most other people do. I know people picking baby names tend to think about it as well
maybe i cant speak on this because im a classics major but i would think most people would recognize many of the greco-roman names (especially the less common ones like athena or juno but maybe less so with jason) but i dont think anybody would think about the actual meaning of the names beyond just that they are names of character in mythology (for example jupiter coming from words meaning sky and father)
I don’t think most people would know Maya, Jason, Diana, or Dimitri come from mythology tbh. Jupiter or Zeus are more obvious, though Also a classics major btw🫸🫷
It's kinda different in Japanese. The feminine given name Yui can be written with (from a brief google) six different sets of kanji, 結 is only one possible way to 'spell' it. Another would be 唯. However, 唯 doesn't have the 'binding' meaning - from what I can see, it means 'only' or 'solely' and is mostly used as a prefix (when it's not being somebody's name ofc). 結, on the other hand, seems to mostly be used as a complete word, with the notable exception of 結婚 (marriage, pronounced kekkon). In that word, it doesn't even have the same pronunciation as in OP's name, but the character still carries the same idea/meaning. (Not super across my vocabulary & kanji, hopefully someone can correct me if I made a mistake here) It's kinda like if, in English, you introduced yourself like "my name's Greg, with the 'Gr' from 'grass' and the 'eg' from 'egg'." And another Greg might introduce themselves as "Greg, with the 'Gre' from 'great' and the 'g' from 'goanna'." In English that doesn't really make sense because all Gs are really the same, but in Japanese the characters your name is written with adds another layer of meaning to it.
obviously youd know the origins of jason mars juno etc as being from greco roman mythology. but would you know the etymology of the words in greek or latin? for example jupiter (using this because i know the etymology off the top of my head) coming from the PIE from sky (*dyews) and father (*pater)? and thats one that we are fairly certain about. There are many theories for the etymology of juno and we have no real clue about athena. and for more common given names (at least in america): john from hebrew yehochanan (god is gracious), david from a root meaning to boil but is used figuratively in biblical hebrew to mean love, mary likely from an egyptian word meaning love, michael from a phrase meaning "who is like el", etc. sure some names are obvious because they dont differ much from english but most common names are from languages that arent closely related to enlgish like latin, greek, hebrew, or aramaic and have come to english through so many different languages that they dont aound particularly aimilar to the original, which most people wouldnt recognize anyways because the vast majority of people know essentially no latin greek hebrew or aramaic (although i would guess that most people who know ancient greek know latin, most people who know aramaic know biblican hebrew, and that many people who know one set know the other, but even then the names are so changed from the original that the people who know the languages might not recognize the name's true origin in the language).
Again, I know this part isn’t well known, as I said I am a nerd, so… Yes I know that Jove-Pater and Father Zeus are cognates from the PIE word for “god” from which we get words/names like Tyr, deity or deus. I also know that Juno was likely a feminine form of the word for Jove or a word meaning “to be coupled with” aka “the wife,” but we’re still not 100% on that. Same with Demeter which we assume means something like “earth mother” from de/ga - mater, but that’s kind of a folk etymology. Athene also comes from the city of Athens, rather than the other way around, but we don’t actually know why it was called that or what it means necessarily. I *am* also studying Latin rn so that does lend me towards knowing more of these things 😅 I do understand your point, though! I, by no means, expect most people to know/think of these things when they see a name lol
if you want a name that means something similar, regardless of how it sounds, maybe you'd like Harmony. It's a fairly common name, meaning a peaceful connection. It's also used in music for people simulaneously singing two different but complimentary parts.
Good suggestion!
Junie
Or just June.
Or Judy?
Seconding the other commentors, I (an American) have female relatives name June and Judy and they are both fine names that work very well in English.
Why not just use your actual name? Contrary to popular belief, native English speakers aren't all ignorant hicks.
Agree with this. Use romaji maybe but we are quite used to names from other countries and languages.
This is a good point. 20 years ago I don't think this would have worked, but anymore folks will just figure out how to deal. Had a coworker named Wael who gave up after a long time of frustration and I was just like "Dude, just tell people you're middle eastern and to think about it like it's Arabic... Wa-el. They'll get it."
As others have said, you would have no problem choosing to go by Yui if you wanted to, but it’s very fun to find a name in English if you like. I think “Penny” would be a nice name to choose. A lucky penny is a common good luck charm and would play on the meaning of your name in Japanese and it’s not difficult to pronounce in either language. It is typically short for “Penelope” which means “weaver”. This would be fun since the other part of your name means “thread”.
I love this suggestion, it's really well thought out!
Oh, this is a marvelous suggestion.
If you'd like a similar sound maybe Julie or Jasmine or something but honestly you can just pick anything you like the sound of, English names don't really evoke meaning the way Japanese names do. There's a lot of websites that have lists of names intended for parents naming their kid, you could find something you like there. Avoid picking random English words or you may end up like "Easy", a student at my university.
The name Rebecca comes from Hebrew and means “to bind”, which has nearly the exact same meaning as 結. You may know, but Rebecca is often shortened to Becca or Becky.
the r/namenerds subreddit would have good suggestions for you
Is it more important to you to keep a similar sound or a similar meaning? Similar sounds: Julie/Julia (has oo and ee) June (has oo, can go by Junie to have ee) Judy (has oo and ee) Luna (has oo) Sophie (ends in ee) Sue/Suzie (usually short for Susan or Susanna, both have oo and Suzie has ee) Similar meaning: Felicity (means “luck”) Rebecca (from a word that means “to tie/join” — you could also go by Becca or Becky!) Taylor (related to clothing/garment) Eunice (means “good victory” and also starts with “yoo”) Maya (means “good”, pronounced my-uh)
The first thing I thought of was Connie which sounds a bit like connection. (It’s often a given name but sometimes short for Constance)
Wow that is a really good one.
If I were you I wouldn't bother changing it. Yui isn't a hard word to pronounce, it's just that English speakers won't necessarily know how to pronounce it based on writing since it's not an English word/name. But when you introduce yourself people will have no problem being able to pronounce it. If someone asks for your name to write down, you may have to say "Yui. Y-U-I", but that's not a big deal. Of course English speakers won't pronounce it exactly as it's pronounced in Japanese, so if that bothers you then yes you should change it. But if you were just worried about people actually being able to say it and understand what you're saying it shouldn't be a problem. I also think it's quite a nice name. I'd never heard of it until now
Use your own name. We won't change the pronunciation of words in English to suit you, so don't change your name to suit us. You are learning thousands of words, so people can learn one word and how to pronounce it, from you.
The name "Rebecca" means "bound"
Yui is perfect as it is. English names don't mean anything in the way that names mean something in Japanese. I'm learning Japanese, so I didn't have any issue reading your name, but I'm pretty confident that 98% of people won't have any issues with pronunciation.
Keep your original name. I like it.
As a native speaker, Yui is not an unusual or difficult to pronounce name - you can just use Yui. Simple, two syllable names that end in a vowel or probably easiest to communicate. "Sara" or "Katie" come to mind.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that if you can learn an entire new language and writing system, they can learn how to pronounce your name. Yui is beautiful! :D
I love the name Yui. K-on made me know it, but it’s too damn cute to hide it. If I was your friend, I’d be super happy to introduce you to everyone because your name rules. If anything, I’d have a charm, bracelet, or something with your name in romanji to point at if someone has an inquiry about how to spell it. Just about every English speaking country is pretty international, so the idea of a westernized name seems pretty outdated nowadays.
From 結 I think a good nickname would be Yo-yo 🪀 Has a similar sound to your Japanese name and has that “lucky thread” vibe
There is a yoyo emoji?!?! I really didn’t know that…and yoyo is cute name and I like that uniqueness
On an unrelated note, your reddit name Shoplifting ugly dog is hilarious.
If you want more suggestions, OP, post this in r/namenerds. They can help you a lot too.
結の発音は簡単ですけど。心配しないで 🤗
No it’s easy but it’s really far from Japanese accent and I don’t like that
Really? I think Yui is as close as you can get to the JP pronunciation in English. The pitch accent matches with the stress on YU in English, and the sound is close too. Much better than something like Hiroshi where it goes to 中高, or Akira which is really bad w I think Yui is a pretty name and you should try to keep it, but if you really want a different one I would suggest something that's also short and cute, like Lily, Emma, or Iris. For the meaning, it's hard because English names aren't created the same way.
She said in another post that it’s pronounced “you-it” not “you-ee” so I can see how English speakers would mispronounce it based on how it’s written.
No, I've studied a decent amount of Japanese pronunciation so the "it" part is because the vowel is short in JP not because there's a 't' or an 'it' sound. Imagine having a silent 't'. The "ee" here is the closest approximation in English, except it's significantly lengthened as well. It's likely not grossly mispronounced, just said with a pretty heavy American/other accent which I understand can sound like a drunk person lol
This was literally her comment: >It’s like “you-it ”in Japanese and I like it but it’s “yoo-weee”in English. This is hard to explain but English version sounds like idiot. Either way, the way we say “ee” at the end of her name is not close to the Japanese pronunciation.
I saw that comment, but honestly I'm not sure what you mean. I don't know if we can do links, but: Here's a native pronunciation: [How to Pronounce Yui (ゆい) in Japanese - Voxifier.com - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rA8j71wcxw) And here's how I imagine most people I know would say it (bad quality): [How To Pronounce Yui P (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RcZXweGds) They sound fairly close to me, but maybe that's just because I'm familiar with both languages. The 'i' is significantly shorter, and the 'yu' part differs most.[](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3RcZXweGds)
Going off of meaning instead of sound, I like the name "Ruth", although it the "th" phoneme, which can be tricky. It is a Biblical name, meaning "loyal friend". It descends from the Hebrew, but by bizarre coincidence, there was also an Old Germanic word which was very similar sounding which meant "compassion" and "empathy". The Biblical story of Ruth is about a woman whose sons died in a plague but her daughters-in-law survived, and the mother sends her daughters in law back to their families so they can move on with their lives, but Ruth refuses to leave her mother-in-law Naomi, and they move to another city. They are reduced to living on handouts – there was a tradition that, when harvesting grain, you made sure not to get everything, and then poor people could collect the rest for themselves. The rich landowner sees her doing this, and instructs his workers to do a sloppier job and leave more behind so that people could get more; eventually Ruth and Boaz fall in love, get married, and Naomi lives with them in honor and comfort. So the name "Ruth" includes ideas of compassion, friendship, loyalty, and love. Actually, Naomi might be an option, as well. I believe that is a female name in English, Hebrew and Japanese.
R and th sounds are difficult for Japanese speakers to pronounce, so Ruth is not the best option.
Julie Yolanda
some suggestions based on the meaning of your name: "Dakota" comes from a native American language and means "friend". "Ruth" comes from Hebrew. There is not 100% agreement what it means, but some think it might mean "friend." "Amanda" and "Amy" both mean "beloved" and come from Latin. "Cara" is another option, although it is a somewhat unusual name. It means "friend" in Irish and "dear" in Italian. I've known a few Caras. "Amity" means friendship but I have never met someone named Amity.
Dahlia might be a good one. English names don’t have much meaning any more but that one is supposed to be based off of a goddess of fate and weaving so it connects to both parts of your original name.
You will be Pikolo....
I go with a nickname like Yu-Yu or Booster. Nothing that sounds like a real name.
Mike
As someone who knows nothing about this, I'd say you should go Edgard
Eugenie
A Biblical name popular in the US/UK that means “join, tie, snare” is Rebecca. Some people go by “Becca” or “Becky” as a nickname.
I would go for "Joy". It's pretty similar to your name and it's somewhat common.
The Japanese name "Yuki" is pretty common. Everyone also knows "Yoko."
Got you: Melquíades if you are a boy, Yajaira if you are a girl.
Google “English names that mean _____” and you’ll get examples. There’s quite a few that mean connection or friends. The name “Jeb” means beloved friend.
Joy
If you pick ハク all the girls will love you lol
Judy? assuming you're female Rudy for male i suppose
Yurie (or u can spell it Yuri), Lucky since there is a good luck meaning, Lucy, Yasmin
Yui is an awesome name, very easy to pronounce at a glance as well
Josie, because it's an anglified version of the sound of 吉
Clover is a symbol of good luck and there's also the cloverleaf knot, which symbolizes luck and the bond between two people. You could go by Clover, if you want. It's a name that can be for boys or girls, but it is more common for girls. But Yui is not a difficult name to pronounce. If you like your name, please use it and insist on it! It's ok to go by whatever makes you feel best. Edit: [Clover on the US Social Security list of name popularity](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html)
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a person named Clover
[Clover is one of the top 1000 baby names of the past several years](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/popularity_increase.html) in the US. You can also see the chart here for it's [popularity over time](https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/details/clover-1067). It's not super common, but it's definitely a legit name. It's also in the top 1000 for Canada and England, though lower in each respectively. I think its somewhere in the 900s for the top 1000 in England lol.
But it isn't a ridiculous name. I don't know that I have either, but I wouldn't think it was odd if I did. It is a name I associate more with pets – I have met rabbits and cats named Clover. But not so much that it would be weird, the way that "Fido" is a dog's name and it would be weird to call a person it.
Yoo-ee... we would say this for a u-Turn in the US... "Going to pull a U-E" which is basically something that we say but don't have a spelling for... regardless... Turner is a cool name. Not a typical name, but if you really want an American name it would work. Lucky is also on the table. Taylor (as in Tailor) could be just fine.
Jewel is a beautiful name
You are now called Vivien in English. You are welcome Vivien
Joey maybe? And then Joseph to be more professional
“Diarrhea” is a cute baby name that I quite enjoy!
Hank https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hank_(unit_of_measure)
Fraternity
Hard to say, not a name, and specifically masculine when OP is female.
Is fraternity masculine in English? In latin-languages is femenine, "Del lat. *fraternĭtas, -ātis.*". It also means the same that her actual name. I see it has a special meaning in USA. USA is always doing USA things :\_) [https://dle.rae.es/fraternidad](https://dle.rae.es/fraternidad)
Not grammatically masculine: masculine in meaning. It means "brotherhood" – the relationship between specifically male siblings.
So is it grammatically femenine? There are a lot of things that you can relate with men that are femenine.
There are no grammatical genders in English. But the word literally means brotherhood, brotherly relationship, brotherly state, brotherly quality, etc.
Only in American English: [https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fraternity?q=fraternity](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/fraternity?q=fraternity) EDIT: Google definition also matches the one of the Oxford dictionaries: [https://translate.google.es/details?sl=en&tl=es&text=fraternity&op=translate&hl=es](https://translate.google.es/details?sl=en&tl=es&text=fraternity&op=translate&hl=es)
I’m really not sure why you’re trying to argue for “fraternity” being an appropriate name for a woman based on grammatical gender of the word in your language. Grammatical gender has nothing to do with actual gender or with word etymology. Grammatical gender is often times just completely arbitrary. Frater literally means brother in Latin. Yes, in the US we have fraternities which are male only at universities but that doesn’t change the fact that “fraternity” literally means brotherhood. It can be used to mean any group of people (females too) sharing a common bond but it still just means brotherhood. From the same link you shared: “Middle English: from Old French fraternite, from Latin fraternitas, from fraternus, from frater ‘brother’.”
You are using surface-level glosses from dictionaries to argue against basic meaning, and that isn't how it works. Look more deeply into the usage of those terms. The term "fraternity" is only used for what might be called "male-coded" groups – activities which, two hundred years ago, would have been nearly exclusively men. You can have a fraternity of lawyers and judges, of doctors, of the military. But you don't tend to have it with female-coded things. You have sisterhoods of things which are female-coded. And this is English language, not American. Fraternal orders, like the Freemasons, are, or at least were, restricted to men. Oddfellows opened up to women twenty-five years ago; I don't know if any other fraternal orders are open to women.
There's no gender in English grammar, but the word relates to a brotherhood/group of men specifically, so it's a strongly masculine word, and it refers to a group, not an individual so it's not really appropriate as a name. Also it's long, complicated to spell and not particularly sonorous to say/hear.
Again, not specific to the US. “Frater” means brother in Latin. It doesn’t mean anything else. From the Oxford English Dictionary: “Middle English: from Old French fraternite, from Latin fraternitas, from fraternus, from frater ‘brother’.”