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| Role Playing Submitting Character Biographies Information on Geiko (Geisha)
What Geisha Do
Appearances and Rank
Geimyo
Geisha
Terminology Outside Links
Immortal Geisha Recommended Reading
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Geimyo: Geisha Names It is a practice in the karyukai to take on a professional name when joining the community formally as a new maiko or geisha. They will still go by their real names but not in the public eye, only in private. These new names are called "geimyo," their "profession names." They are derived from the woman who will act as the new girl's "oneesan" or "older sister" so many maiko and geisha will share names within a particular community. For example, Toshihana's younger sister is Toshifumi, and Toshifumi's younger sisters could be Toshiyue, Toshimari and Toshiteru. All share "Toshi". Of course, the names don't always have to share the first part. For example, Suzuha is the older sister of Kotoha, who is the older sister of Yasuha. Each share and pass down "ha" in their line.
Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana Kanji are the natively Chinese characters used in the Japanese language. These are the more complicated symbols you see in Japanese, like in karyukai (花柳界). Each character not only has multiple ways to read it, but each one also has multiple meanings. Table I’ve
compromised a list of kanji, hiragana and katakana used in geiko and maiko names
and their respective name readings. Names consist of two, sometimes three or
even four parts. Therefore I’ve split the table up into sections dependent on
if I've seen a character placed in the first, middle, or last part of the name.
For hiragana or katakana combinations I left them in the first placement column
or last. Some characters therefore are listed twice, like 菊. Some kanji like 菊 can change their reading depending on where it is in a name-- it is read as “kiku” when in the first part of a name, and “giku” or "kiku" when placed in the latter part of the name. Some kanji have the same reading whether placed in the front of a name or in the back, i.e. Suzuha (寿々葉) and Ichisuzu (市寿々). This is common for kanji. For example the character 満 is read as Mi or Ma but placement has little to do with how it is read. Really, you have to already know the name to know which reading to use (多満葉 Tamaha and満佐子Misako). Oppositely, some kanji can be read differently even with the same placement--花 for example can be read as "hana" or "ka" (Toshihana とし花 and Mamechika 豆知花). When making a geimyo try to keep it between 2-5 syllables. In short, you cannot always tell a kanji's reading based on placement, but I've decided to keep my table with three separate rows based on placement anyway. If possible, I have also added the meaning(s) of the respective kanji but keep in mind these meanings do not nessassarily come to mind when saying one's name.
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