Choosing a name that is compatible for English and Japanese pronunciation is not easy. We struggled for a long time to come up with a name for our first son. In a sudden flash of inspiration it came to me - Reni. Yoko liked it immediately and so it became.
Reni is not a common name in either language. In fact I had never heard of anyone called Reni until Bec, sister of musical knowledge that she is, informed me that the drummer of the Stone Roses (a band from Manchester, popular in the 90’s) has the same name. Cool. I like the Roses!
I’ve heard that Reni is a popular name in Indonesia also. I’d regard that as another plus. With my lengthy relationship with Indonesia and the fact that it’s Australia’s neighbour, it seems likely that Reni will visit there one day. When he does they’ll be able to get his name right. (Unlike mine where Matt becomes Max!)
Once we’d decided Reni’s name the next step was to choose some suitable kanji Chinese characters. Naturally I left it up to Yoko to decide. She chose an irregular reading of a combination of two kanji:
玲仁
玲 - re (otherwise read as rei). This kanji is a combination of the characters for king and life. It means ‘the sound of jewels’, crystal-clear if you like.
仁 - ni (otherwise read as nin or jin). This kanji has quite a broad meaning- humanity; virtue; benevolence or charity.
Japanese people invariably ask what a name means and what kanji it has. In the case of Reni’s name I can answer the former but not the latter. An acquaintance of mine told me that Reni could be translated as ‘generous mind’. I rather like that and think it’s quite appropriate. Reni is often kind and considerate to others.
Since I was mainly responsible for choosing Reni’s name I thought Yoko should make the final decision for the name of our second child. Once again we wanted a unique name compatible in both languages. This time though we couldn’t find one.
Interestingly, Yoko was more concerned with choosing an English name rather than a Japanese one. She liked the name Syd. Neither of us were really interested in using Sydney however.
Musicians came to mind again when we thought of famous Syds. There was Sid Vicious of the punk band, The Sex Pistols or Syd Barrett of the psychedelic rock band, Pink Floyd. Although I did once own a Sid Vicious t-shirt, (which I attribute to teenage angst), Syd Barret was a far more creative and accomplished musician. Because I was born in Sydney too was further reason for choosing S-y-d rather than S-i-d.
Once again Yoko applied kanji after the name had been decided. As I mentioned previously, Syd’s name cannot be pronounced in Japanese; , there is no s-y (or s-i) in Japanese, only ’shi’, and the only consonant used to end a word is ‘n’ thus Shido.
志斗
志 (’shi’, also can be read as ‘kokoro-zashi). This kanji combines the characters for Samurai (above) and heart (below). It means intention; plan; resolve; aspire; motive or hopes.
斗 （’do’ - use Homer Simpson pronunciation! Can also can be read as ‘to’ or ‘masu’.) Yoko chose this kanji more for its appearance rather than meaning. Its basic meaning is a measurement of volume equal to 18 litres or a square container, particularly one used for the Japanese alchohol, sake. It is also the character for the star known as the Big Dipper or the Plough.
So it would appear there can be a number of interpretations of the meaning of Syd’s name in Japanese. Maybe he’s an aspiring star?
