Names and their meanings 01 Japanese names

Most Japanese names are written in kanji, Chinese characters. These letters are ideograph so we can read the letters not just phonetically but understand them semantically.

Parents when they give their newborn a name, would choose carefully the characters that reflect their hopes for their child. For example my name Makiko (phonetically chosen by my big brother) is written 万起子 in kanji, and each character's meanings are 万 = myriad, 起 = raise, 子 = child, so when all linked together it would mean something like "a child who raises myriad of things". I don't think I always semantically live up to my name, but I do think the name, to some extent, influence my sense of identity.

Unless we are trying to explain to others how we write our names in kanji, the meanings of the names are not much of a concern.

Now, there is a website of Japan Shogi Association (日本将棋連盟 Japan Shogi Association ), and the website offers multilingual translation of the site (by Google translation). Because it is automatic translation, and faithfully and thoroughly executing its function, it sometimes overdoes the work by translating the names of the Shogi players like below (Their correct names in alphabet and in kanji are in parentheses).

Kato One Hundred and Twenty-Three    (Kato Hifumi  加藤一二三)
Forest Keiji    (Mori Keiji  森けい二)
Excused True    (Chuza Makoto  中座真)
North Island Tadao    (Kitajima Tadao  北島忠雄)
Piece Daisuke    (Katagami Daisuke  片上大輔)

Village Hideshi    (Muranaka Hideshi  村中秀史)
Sasaki Courage    (Sasaki Yuki  佐々木勇気)

Good for them that they are peaceful Shogi players; hardly ferocious ring names if they were wrestlers.