stupid question about ayu's name

[Nu-NRG]

I know this question is stupid.....since I'm also her fan but it bugs me alot...is Ayumi the first name and Hamasaki the last name.....or the other way around. Ayumi is the last name and Hamasaki is the first name.....the reasons I ask this is because on her older cds it wrote as HAMASAKI AYUMI..but on sites people often put AYUMI HAMASAKI. Also I see it on some site that japanese don't really have last or first name like other country do.

[gakkun]

Hehe...well Ayumi is her first name and Hamasaki is her last name. The reason why you see it written as 'Hamasaki Ayumi' is because in Japanese (and other asian languages) the surname comes before the given name. But because they sometimes write it in English they westernize it and write it as Ayumi Hamasaki.

[weijie22]

ya
you are correct

[ohsixthirty]

It took me a little to figure this out too. I remember when I first got into J-pop I thought Utada Hikaru's first name was Utada. I said something about it to my friend from Japan and she looked at me like I was crazy and could not believe I thought her first name was Utada.

Or was it the other way around?

[Unimatrix Prime™]

Hikki's first name is Hikaru. Like what was said above, Japanese put last names first, hence the confusion

[weijie22]

if you are not sure
say the full name

[silentscreamer]

yea i still get confused over namie amuro .. amuro namie

aiyaaaa lol

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by Unimatrix Prime™

Hikki's first name is Hikaru. Like what was said above, Japanese put last names first, hence the confusion

I thought so, I got confused because I was thinking of her english release and how she is going by Utada in the US...which is kinda odd since that is technically not her first name. I suppose Hikaru was deemed too hard for Americans to say or something. Who knows.

[~K+]

Namie = First name, Amuro = Surname

Some artists always seems to have surname first
- Utada Hikaru
- Koda Kumi

whilst others have it the other way round

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by ~K+

Namie = First name, Amuro = Surname

Some artists always seems to have surname first
- Utada Hikaru
- Koda Kumi

whilst others have it the other way round

Which ends up being so confusing!!! And then in my mp3's i end up with a chunk of say... Kuraki Mai and then another of Mai Kuraki. Haha!

[Unimatrix Prime™]

Originally Posted by touchedstar

I thought so, I got confused because I was thinking of her english release and how she is going by Utada in the US...which is kinda odd since that is technically not her first name. I suppose Hikaru was deemed too hard for Americans to say or something. Who knows.

I believe I heard somewhere that it's more of a "brand" thing. Utada is a bit easier to pronounce than Hikaru (to most english-speaking people who don't normally say Japanese words).

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by Unimatrix Prime™

I believe I heard somewhere that it's more of a "brand" thing. Utada is a bit easier to pronounce than Hikaru (to most english-speaking people who don't normally say Japanese words).

She should go by Hikki then!!

[~K+]

She usually goes by 'Kuraki Mai' although there are instances of the other way round, but Mai is her first name.

You just have to be able to learn to tell which ones are Japanese first names......

[silentscreamer]

hikky sounds too much like something else

heh ^^

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by silentscreamer

hikky sounds too much like something else

heh ^^

True...I suppose. But it's so cute!

[silentscreamer]

Originally Posted by touchedstar

True...I suppose. But it's so cute!

hikaru is cool! cuz it means *light* haha

but i donno .. maybe the company has done research showing that utada is better *shrugs*

[Unimatrix Prime™]

Originally Posted by silentscreamer

hikky sounds too much like something else

heh ^^

yeah... I remember a post from last year which was about her using Utada instead of her full name. In the long run, I think using just Utada is better, since you might have those who'd make fun of her name (i.e. call her Hickey or something )

[ohsixthirty]

Originally Posted by Unimatrix Prime™

yeah... I remember a post from last year which was about her using Utada instead of her full name. In the long run, I think using just Utada is better, since you might have those who'd make fun of her name (i.e. call her Hickey or something )

People are stupid.

I'm just waiting till I hear her dismissed as "that Japanese chic" or something.

Wow...that's so off-topic.

[Delirium-Zer0]

The whole "first name"/"last name" thing is confusing. It's easier to explain if you call them "family name" and "given name".

Ayumi, Hikaru, Namie, Mai = given name
Hamasaki, Utada, Amuro, Kuraki = family name

After awhile you can tell what sounds like a family name and what sounds like a given name, at least most of the time.

[Queen Bee]

What I've noticed is not only Japan but other asian countries do the same thing with not only names but dates.They go from general to specific.For example, Hamasaki=general and Ayumi=specific.I'll use the date on the forgiveness (2003/8/20) poster as another example 2003=general, 8= general/sepcific, and 20=specific.