Question

A group of foreign residents married to Japanese talked about their children’s names.

Nicole Despres

Students services manager, 40 (American)

We have no intention to live outside Japan so it made sense for the kids to take my Japanese husband’s family name. However, we did want to have a Western name too, so all three of them now have both a Western and Japanese name. We agreed there would be no strange names, spelling or unusual kanji(Chinese characters in the Japanese language). All names had to be easy to say and familiar in both Japanese and English.

John McCracken

Company general manager, 27(American)

My son’s name is Aiden. In part because my wife and I met in university and as she was studying Irish history and I have some links to Scotland and Ireland, I wanted a unique Gaelic(蓋爾族的)name. We settled for Aiden as we found kanji that can be used in Japan that means “l(fā)egendary hero”

Paula Murakami

College women’s Association of Japan, 53(American)

My husband was very excited about choosing names, so I decided to let him choose. He wanted their first names to be Japanese and camp up with names that included the kanji character in his own name. Our boys, Hiroki and Kenta, never had any problems while living on the U.S. West Coast with Japanese names, and I think both as children and as adults, they love their names.

Jeff Ruiz

Recording engineer, 42(Mexican)

My son’s name is Lenny. My wife chose it together with me as we were looking for a name that works in both worlds — mine in Mexico, and hers in Japan — and the name Lenny is common everywhere. In Japanese we write the name in katakana as that is easy for Japanese people who seem to like names in two or three characters.

1.What do we know about the people mentioned in the passage?

Nicole and her husband had an agreement on how to name the children.

B. Jeff will remain in Japan as his wife is not used to Mexican life.

C. The four couples have decided to live with the children in Japan forever.

D. Paula and her family would love to live on the U.S. West Coast.

2.Which of the following does the underlined word “katakana” mean?

A. A Japanese system of grammar.

B. A way of writing the Japanese language.

C. A Japanese word which means “name”.

D. A name popular with Japanese people.

3.What can we infer from the passage?

Nicole and her Japanese husband have a daughter and two sons.

B. Paula has little say in making a decision at home.

C. John’s wife is Irish and the couple have only one child.

D. Lenny is a name familiar to Japanese when written the Japanese way.

4.Which would be the best title for the passage?

Is a western name better than a Japanese name?

B. Why does your child have two names?

C. How do you choose your child’s name?

D. Do you settle differences in naming your child?

Answer 1