Japanese Name
In Japanese, 'Hana' (or 'Hanna') is a popular girls name. The sound 'hana' means 'flower' and and can be spelt with the kanji (chinese character) for flower.
'Hana' also means 'nose' when spelt with a different kannji. So touching noses together is callad a 'hana chuu' or 'nose kiss'.
In practice, people called 'Hana' generally don't write their name with the kanji for 'flower' because that is too obvious, and also because it only uses 1 kanji which seems too short (most names use 2 kanji).
Instead parents tend to pick the most appropriate of the dozens of combinations of kanji that spell the sylables 'Ha' and 'Na' . One consideration is to pick kanji so that the number of strokes used to write the surname and first name add up to an auspicious number in traditional fortune-telling.
Rika chose the following pair of kanji.
In japanese this is more poetic than it might seem - it gives us images of butterflies or dragonflies flitting among green summer leaves at Ikadaba. Although a different reading might equally bring to mind 'chicken and vegetable soup'.
This choice of kanji also means that Hana's name in roman letters is 'Hana', not 'Hanna' as I've been writing it up until now.
Hana's official surname is 'S.', the same as Rika's. Why? well, as a foreigner, I don't have a family register, so when Rika and I married I was added to Rika's family register and thus officially became a member of the S. family of Shibuya. My name is unchanged, but for Hanna to take my surname Rika would have to change her surname. Which she hadn't done.
(By the way, as the man I'm officially 'head' of the household, although in practice this is more of a 'governor general' sort of role).
In fortune telling terms 'S., Hana' is a reasonably lucky name:
To give Hana the option of using my surname later, we decided to add it as a middle name. So her full official name is as follows (family name first in the japenese manner).
This seemed a good compromise, although it turns out that Japanese authorities do not recognise middle names, so they have joined together the 'first' and 'middle' names. So Hana's official name is 'Hanasmith'. At first sight this seems a bit wierd, and perhaps brings to mind images of someone hammering out flower shapes from red-hot iron.
In fact it isn't so bad once you remember that there are never 'spaces' written between Japanese words, and the 2 names are written in kanji and katakana respectively so they are obviously different words. Rika assures me that this sort of thing has become more common as people have started adding middle names, and she will be able to just use 'Hana' except in ultra-official contexts. Also we can put the space back in when we translate her name into english.
English Name
We chose the name 'Hanna' because it is also a version of the biblical name Hannah. Which, (as we all know), means "grace", "favour", "charm", or perhaps "blessed by god", or "god has graced me with a son", depending on which website you have just looked up.
Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel. She was barren and prayed for a child in return for giving the child up to the priests . When the child was born she gave thanks to god with the 'Song of Hannah' which is regarded in Judaism as a model for how to pray.
Painting Jan Victors 1620-1667
We couldn't use the spelling 'Hannah' since it doesn't exist in Japanese. This is a shame since 'Hannah' is a palendrome, ie reads the same backwards as forwards. So is "name no Hannah one man").
'Hanna' is also version of the name 'Hannah', but in technically 'Hana' isn't, unless you are spanish. On the other hand 'Hana' means happiness in arabic, and 'One' in korean.
Song of Hannah (Samuel 2:1-10)
1 Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn [g] is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
2 "There is no one holy [h] like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
3 "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.
4 "The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry hunger no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave [i] and raises up.
7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. "For the foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness. "It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder against them from heaven; the LORD will judge the ends of the earth. "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."
Sung to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain"
