User:Fg2/Japanese names

This is a draft of an article that would be posted for real if needed based on the outcome of voting on a standard for Japanese names. Please put comments on the discussion page. &mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash; I propose to name the article Wikipedia:Japanese names because it is about Wikipedia as well as an article about Japanese names. Of course, articles like Japanese name would link to it.

In the Japanese language, people give their names in the order Surname–Given name. An example is Yamada Taro. The surname (family name) is Yamada and the given name is Taro. Mr. Yamada's son Ken would have the name Yamada Ken.

England follows the European custom: the given name comes first, and the surname comes second. This custom is in use in many English-speaking places today, and speakers of English in places around the world are accustomed to reading names in this format. In addition, speakers of other languages with widespread distribution such as Spanish, French, German, Dutch, and Russian, follow the same practice.

Because the English and Japanese customs are different, any English-language publication faces a dilemma. Which name should come first?

The English-language Wikipedia follows a simple convention for Japanese names. For people born prior to 1868, Wikipedia uses the Japanese order, Surname–Given name. For those born in or after 1868, Wikipedia uses the order that is customary in English: Given name–Surname.

Wikipedia provides additional information in parentheses near the beginning of the article. First is the name, written in Japanese. After it, also in parentheses, comes the name written in letters in the Japanese order, Surname–Given name. This time, it follows Wikipedia's system of romanization, which indicates the pronunciation more accurately than the usual spelling.

Here is an example. The entry on Junichiro Koizumi, the 87th Prime Minister of Japan, begins like this:

Junichiro Koizumi (&#23567;&#27849;&#32020;&#19968;&#37070;) Koizumi Jun'ichir&#333;, born January 8, 1942)

Because he was born in or after 1868, the Wikipedia article begins with his name in the English order. His given name (Junichiro) comes first; his family name (Koizumi) comes second. In parentheses are the kanji that Prime Minister Koizumi uses to write his name, followed by his name (in letters) in the native Japanese order, with the surname first, and the given name second. The romanization indicates the pronunciation.

Wikipedia selected 1868 as the boundary because that was the year of the Meiji Restoration. This event ushered in an era of Westernization, in which Japan adopted many customs, institutions, and practices from Europe and the United States. Since that time, Japanese people, and their names, have sparked increasing attention in the English-speaking community.