Nanori

Nanori (名乗り, Nanori ^? literally "say or give your own name"; also, by extension, &# 34;introduce yourself") are readings (pronunciation) of kanji characters found exclusively in Japanese names.

In the Japanese language, many names are made up of common characters with standard pronunciations. However, these names can also contain characters that are only found as part of a name, as well as standard characters that have particular pronunciations as part of a name. For example, the character 希, which means "hope" or "rare/scarce", usually pronounced ki (or sometimes ke or mare), but as a feminine name it can be read as Nozomi.

In compound words, the nanori readings can be used in combination with other pronunciations, as in the case of Iida (飯田). In this case, the pronunciation nanori of 飯 (いい, ii) and the standard kun'yomi pronunciation of 田 (だ, da) are combined. It often happens, as in the previous example, that the pronunciation nanori is related to the general meaning of the kanji character, but that it is a way of reading it that has fallen into disuse.