Japanese Female Names 111 



(Plum-blossom) is a name referring to wifely 

 devotion and virtue. Matsu (Pine) does not 

 refer, as an appellation, to the beauty of the tree, 

 but to the fact that its evergreen foliage is the 

 emblem of vigorous age. The name Take (Bam- 

 boo) is given to a child only because the bamboo 

 has been for centuries a symbol of good -fortune. 

 The name Sen (Wood-fairy) sounds charmingly to 

 Western fancy ; yet it expresses nothing more than 

 the parents' hope of long life for their daughter 

 and her offspring, wood -fairies being supposed 

 to live for thousands of years. . . . Again, many 

 names are of so strange a sort that it is impossi- 

 ble to discover their meaning without questioning 

 either the bearer or the giver ; and sometimes all 

 inquiry proves vain, because the original meaning 

 has been long forgotten. 



Before attempting to go further into the sub- 

 ject, I shall here offer a translation of the Tokyo 

 essayist's list of names, rearranged in alpha- 

 betical order, without honorific prefixes or suf- 

 fixes. Although some classes of common names 

 are not represented, the list will serve to show 

 the character of many still popular yobina, and 

 also to illustrate several of the facts to which 

 I have already called attention. 



