Draft:Ainu names

Ainu names are personal names in the Ainu language. In Ainu, they are called Ainu re アイヌ・レ.

Overview
In traditional Ainu naming conventions, newly born babies are not given names. In order to make them undesirable to spirits of disease, who are said to like beautiful things, babies are called by dirty names such as Shontaku (lump of feces) or Setashi (dog feces). Formal names are given once the child grows and individual traits emerge, around four to nine years old. The unmodified names of dead people are avoided for Ainu names, and those living the same kotan do not share names.

In many cases, gender is differentiated by using words such as "ainu" (people) and "kur" (man/person) for boys' names, while "kor" (to own), "menoko" (woman) or "ma" (woman) are used for girls' names.

History
Up until the 1780s, nearly all Ainu went by traditional Ainu names, and notable Ainu from before the 18th century did not typically adopt Japanese names. However, there were extremely rare cases of this occuring. For instance, along the coast of the Sea of Japan around the time of Shakushain's revolt, the Ainu chieftan of what is now Yoichi went by the name Hachiroemon.

After the shogunate expanded into eastern Ezo in 1799, the number of Ainu having Japanese names began to increase. But even so, there remained a great many Ainu who only had Ainu names.

Following the adoption of the koseki system during the Meiji restoration, the Ainu were legally required to have Japanese names. However, it was still possible for them to go by traditional Ainu names. Two notable individuals of this time period were Ikasipa and Yayomanekuh.

As the era progressed, more Ainu stopped adopting traditional names. Take Asai, the last speaker of Sakhalin Ainu born in 1902, had the Ainu name Tahkonanna, but Yukie Chiri and Mashiho Chiri, born in 1903 and 1909 respectively, did not nave Ainu names.

Among the Ainu, there are those who intentionally go by Ainu names to have their ethnic identity recognized, such as Bikki Sunazawa and Atuy.

Reference

 * 松浦武四郎 著、更科源蔵 訳 『アイヌ人物誌』 平凡社、2002年.
 * 第一法規出版株式会社、1969年.
 * 松浦武四郎 著、更科源蔵 訳 『アイヌ人物誌』 平凡社、2002年.
 * 第一法規出版株式会社、1969年.

Category:Human names Category:Ainu culture Category:Ainu languages