Yagami Raito 'Light'

[Tenshi no Ai]

This isn't a question about the show itself or anything Death Note for that matter, but his name. I just REALLY don't understand how such a foreign word can use the kanji symbol for moon, which is read as 'getsu' or 'tsuki'. Or, in the case of his name, does 'Raito' have some other meaning, either than the symbolism attached with Light/Right/Write etc? Just strange to me, since I know that Chinese uses foreign names and has kanji for them (somehow^^) but not Japanese...

Any kanji buffs care to explain?^^

[EricTheFred]

I'm not the Kanji expert you are looking for, but I do know that in Japanese usage when writing names, Kanji can pretty much be used for any word even roughly synonymous with the original Chinese word. In this case, the moon symbol is probably being equated to 'light' rather than the other homonyms you quoted. The rules are a lot less flexible for normal written language, of course.

A Japanese friend gave me part of my Kanji signature using this method. My surname is the name of the valley my family originates from, so she gave me the Kanji which would normally represent the names "Furuya" and "Furutani", which mean "Old Valley". "Furutani" happens to sound a little like my actual surname, so it is arguably also a homonym. She gave me 'Riku' for a first name so it would have a kanji ("Eric" normally gets rendered as 'E-Ri-Ku' in Kana, or sometimes with the Kanji for "King", which is what Eric originally meant.)

[Tenshi no Ai]

Huh, interesting, especially the fact of western names sounding/translating similarly to that in the east.

It is odd, but I guess it can work out^^

[Ouroboros]

Just strange to me, since I know that Chinese uses foreign names and has kanji for them (somehow^^) but not Japanese...

Any kanji buffs care to explain?^^

The above explanation of Yagami Light’s name （夜神月）is pretty much on the mark, though if you want more detail here’s my take on it.
The Yagami in Light’s name consists of the characters for “Night” and “God” which cam be traced back to Greco-Roman mythological roots where the night Goddess Nyx was said to be the mother of the god of death Thanatos. The given name is quite odd, but there are some cases of the kanji for moon being read as “Runa/Luna”, the rules for Japanese names are sometimes very flexible, which is why reading them can drive you insane sometimes.
I think the storyteller decided to use the character for “Moon” because it goes well with Light’s last name and opted to have it read as “Light” because A) It’s English, but from a Japanese perspective it looks like a standard boy’s name (read as “Raito”) B) Light has other connotations as well and cane be related to Lucifer, as well as sounding like Right/Write from a Japanese perspective.
As for how the Chinese right foreign names, they go entirely by sound. Finding the kanji/hanzi based on having a nice meaning that matches the gender of the person, as well as sounding like the name. For example the Western name “Amy” could be written as 艾美 (ai4 mei3) which consists of the characters for “Mugwort” and “Beauty” and also sounds very similar to the Western name. Of course some people pick their characters based on the meaning of their Western and translate that into kanji/hanzi but the general rule is to base it on sound.

[Sammy Boy]

Kanji in Chinese and exactly the same kanji in Japanese often don't mean the same thing.

For example, in Japanese the kanji for "dai jyoo bu" (spelling?) which means "I'm alright" actually means "big husband" in Chinese (which has negative connotations as it's used to denote a husband who places his own needs / ideas above his wife's).

As for how the Chinese right foreign names, they go entirely by sound.

This is usually the case, but not always. Sometimes the transliteration into Chinese is a combination of sound and meaning. For example, the Chinese name of a town with a name such as "Blacktown" would become "Pi Li Zhen" (Pi Li sounds like "black" and "zhen" means "town" in Mandarin).

[termyt]

Not to mention, we are talking about a fictional name. The writer gets to choose a name that fits his purpose. He not only gets to make up the name, he get's to choose how to spell it, since Chinese characters can have several different sounds. So, while the name is highly unlikely to pop up in the "real world" the lattitude is there for the author to make it work in his story.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Ah it's all interesting^^ Oy... kanji grammar... I sure wish things didn't happen back in history to have them use kanji too and just stick to hiragana^^ Would've made the world an... easier place^^ Well at least for me :p

[termyt]

You know, they considered making English their official language after WWII.

[Tenshi no Ai]

That would be very disappointing if they did. Cultural conformity ftl :/ English is already their second language already, as far as popularity with it goes.

[ilikegir33]

I just noticed this: "Death Note" in Japanese is "Desu Nooto" rather than "Shi Nooto".

[Tenshi no Ai]

I just noticed this: "Death Note" in Japanese is "Desu Nooto" rather than "Shi Nooto".

Well that makes complete sense, since Ryuuk said he wrote the entire thing into english, so obviously the title of the book would be too.

[ilikegir33]

You're right. But the title of the whole series is Desu Nooto.