名 — how to write the kanji for “name”

名 means “name”, “noted” and “distinguished”; it is a JLPT N5 kanji, taught in first grade in Japan. In newspapers it is the 177th most used kanji. KANJIDIC2 gives it 2 on readings and 2 kun readings, so the word decides how you say it. Its parts sit stacked: 夕 (“evening”), strokes 1–3; 口 (“mouth”, its radical), strokes 4–6, each finished before the next. On its own it is the word na, “name; given name”. Read mei, it forms 名誉 (“honor”), 指名 (“naming”) and 有名 (“famous”); the native reading na gives 名前 (“name”). Chinese reads it míng, “name”, at HSK 1.

Strokes

6

JLPT

N5

Radical

口 (“mouth”)

On

メイ, ミョウ

Kun

-な, な