ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1330
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1330
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From: "Brian M. Scott" 
1 Nov 1998

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked for help documenting <Yishiguri Naga> (or as close a match
as possible) as a Japanese masculine name in the period 1400-1550.

The sound system of Japanese is quite accurately described by the 
kana, which are the characters used to represent Japanese 
phonetically.  Each kana represents a whole syllable, and there is a 
kana for each possible syllable.  From the fact that there is no kana 
for a syllable <yi> we can infer that this is not a possible Japanese 
syllable.  The closest is <i>, and in fact there is a Japanese name 
element <ishi> 'rock' that occurs in a number of surnames. [1, 2]

In a two-element Japanese family name, the first element modifies the
second.  Thus, <Ishikawa>, from <ishi> 'rock' and <kawa> 'river', is
'rocky river', and <Ishibashi>, from <ishi> 'rock' and <hashi>
'bridge', is 'stone bridge'. [2, 3] Such family names normally make
sense, often describing a feature of the local landscape, so the
second element of a name beginning with <Ishi-> has to refer to
something that could reasonably be described as rocky or made of
rock.

According to our Japanese speaker, there is a word <guri>, but it
refers to a design motif and so would not be described by 'rock'. In
any case we have found no example of this element in period Japanese
family names.  There is also a word <kuri> 'chestnut (tree)' that
appears in the surname <Oguri> 'small chestnut'.  However, a
hypothetical <Ishikuri> or <Ishiguri> would most likely be understood
as 'chestnut made of rock'; this is not a plausible description of a
local landmark, and for that reason we do not think that such a
surname would have been used.

The only family name that we found that sounds a bit like <Yishiguri>
is <Ishikawa> 'rock(y) river', which is found as early as 1183.  
Other attested surnames beginning with this element are: [2]

    Ishibashi 1392 'stone bridge'
    Ishida 1568 'rocky rice paddy'
    Ishidou 1392 'rock pagoda'
    Ishii 1392 'rock well'
    Ishizaki 1572 'rocky slope'

However, we can construct a few others: <Ishihara> 'rocky meadow',
<Ishiura> 'rocky delta', and <Yoshikuri> 'lucky or fortunate
chestnut'.  So far as we can tell, all of these are consistent with
period Japanese family naming practice.


<Naga> does not appear to have been used as a nanori, i.e., a man's
formal given name.  In fact, single-element nanori are quite rare.
However, this element is found at the beginning of a great many
attested nanori.  (There are actually two different first elements
represented here, both transcribed <naga> in Roman letters.  One
means 'long; oldest senior', and the other means 'forever'.  Those
containing the latter element are starred.  The double-starred name
contains an unidentified first element.  Sometimes two or three
names with different second elements have the same Roman spelling; in
those cases the Roman spelling has been given once, followed by a
date for each version.) [2]

    Nagachika 1147
    Nagafuji* 1572
    Nagafusa 1332
    Nagahide 1572
    Nagahira* 1147
    Nagahiro** 1568
    Nagahisa 1600
    Nagakane 1332
    Nagakata 1147
    Nagakatsu 1568
    Nagakatsu* 1568
    Nagakiyo 1332
    Nagamasa 1332
    Nagamasa* 1332
    Nagamichi 1332
    Nagamitsu 1332, 1572
    Nagamochi 1332
    Nagamori 1332, 1600
    Nagamoto 1332, 1392
    Naganari 1600
    Nagaoki 1572
    Nagasada 1332
    Nagashige 1392
    Nagasue* 1392
    Nagataka 1332
    Nagateru 1568
    Nagatoki 1332
    Nagatoshi 1332
    Nagauji 1332
    Nagayo 1332
    Nagayori 1332
    Nagayoshi 1568, 1568, 1600
    Nagayuki 1392, 1568
    Nagayuki* 1392, 1572

Our first recommendation is to use a family name and nanori that are
actually attested.  However, we think that combining any of the three
hypothetical surnames <Ishihara>, <Ishiura>, and <Yoshikuri> with an
attested nanori (e.g., <Yoshikuri Nagayo>) would also be good
historical re-creation.

All unreferenced information on Japanese and Japanese naming was 
provided by Solveig Throndardottir.  We hope that this letter has 
been helpful and that you will write again if you have any further 
questions.

For the Academy,

Talan Gwynek

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References:

[1] Shibatani, Masayoshi.  'Japanese', in Bernard Comrie, ed., _The
World's Major Languages_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).

[2] Solveig Throndardottir.  Name Construction in Mediaeval Japan
(Carlsbad, N. Mex.: The Outlaw Press, 1994); pp. 151, 159, 346.

[3] The pronunciation of some consonants can change depending on the
preceding sounds, so that <hashi> and <kuri> may become <bashi> and
<guri> respectively.