Japanese vs English names? and Both?

[Allegra Hughes]

I have a quick question! So I originally made two of my characters have Japanese names or perhaps odd names. I don't even think one of them is haha.

But the rest of the characters have english names, like Andrea, or Joe, or Travis, etc

Do you think this is at all weird? And perhaps I should change the two names that aren't standard english names?

I didn't do it intentionally, it just happened...

[Marionette]

Since all the other names are different it'll probably seem out of place for the reader unless there is a good reason for it. Such as, you know, them being japanese. :p

[LVUER]

I have a quick question! So I originally made two of my characters have Japanese names or perhaps odd names. I don't even think one of them is haha.

But the rest of the characters have english names, like Andrea, or Joe, or Travis, etc

Do you think this is at all weird? And perhaps I should change the two names that aren't standard english names?

I didn't do it intentionally, it just happened...

Where does your story take place? It will be strange if the story happens in USA with all characters have Japanese names (or the other way around). Though special reasons can make that happen (like transfer students).

[Googaboga]

I agree with Marionette. There is nothing wrong with having character names that come from different cultures as long as there is a reason or point for it.

For example, I knew a guy in real life who is white/born and raised in the US and was named Armando because his parents loved Spanish culture. Since that is not normally the type of name used for white U.S. guys he was sometimes asked to explain why he had the name he did. It wasn't a big deal and people accepted it fine once they knew why. So if you've got people with names from a culture that isn't their own it's alright. You'll just have to be okay with the fact that people will most likely ask why.

Or if the characters are simply Japanese or partially Japanese it is perfectly reasonable that they have Japanese names. My game also has a lot of characters with standard English names and one character with a Japanese name since he is part Japanese. I don't feel the need to explain it and I don't think it will bother people either. I'm pretty confident that the players will understand/accept on their own that he is a different ethnicity so he has a name from a different culture. Although if those two characters look exactly like all the other characters you will probably still need to explain since no one will be able to tell that they are a different ethnicity.

[gekiganwing]

Where does your story take place?

This is a key question. Maybe your story takes place in a major city where you can meet any number of people, including tourists, first and second generation immigrants, multiracial individuals, and international students. Or maybe it takes place in a small town where everyone's ancestors are from one or two countries. For a few ideas, consider reading the TVTropes article "Melting Pot Nomenclature."

Don't worry too much about names. If there's a mistake or two (an inexplicably outdated name, one that doesn't seem to reflect the person's background), it can be corrected later.

[MaiMai]

Did you think of your setting? And geography? Does this take place in an alternate timeline/universe? If you're using mostly real-world timeline/logic I do think it's important to be aware of what populations are like in different places.

For instance, I live in California, specifically southern California so if I'm going to make a story and characters that take place there, I should know about what makes up the population. There is a large Asian population (Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc), there are Hispanic and Latin peoples, and Caucasians. Historically, California does have a Japanese American population; ethnically Japanese, but American born individuals are prominent and have their own terms for generation names. Here's what I got from Wikipedia:

Issei (一世) The generation of people born in Japan who later immigrated to another country.
Nisei (二世) The generation of people born in North America, Latin America, Australia, Hawaii, or any country outside of Japan either to at least one Issei or one non-immigrant Japanese parent.
Sansei (三世) The generation of people born to at least one Nisei parent.
Yonsei (四世) The generation of people born to at least one Sansei parent.
Gosei (五世) The generation of people born to at least one Yonsei parent.

Basically, you could definitely have a character who is Japanese, but has an American name. I have a friend whose family name is Japanese, but her given name was American.

[Green Glasses Girl]

For a few ideas, consider reading the TVTropes article "Melting Pot Nomenclature."

While this is true, it can become somewhat egregious with counter tropes such as "Odd Name Out" and "Aerith and Bob". It seems to be a staple in both OEL manga and OELVNs to have their main characters automatically Japanese, without any reference to their culture. (For that matter, why isn't anyone ever Korean? Or Filipino? Or Vietnamese?) Or that the story claims it isn't based in Japan, but somehow seem to sneak in suspicious settings of reminiscent to a Japanese school or town.

In the end, it's what you want. If you have a reason behind it, that works. It's completely plausible. If you're doing it for the sake of "this is anime so our main character must be Japanese which makes them cool" with all of the Japanese media tropes bundled with it, that's still fine...although awkward.

[Eggyegghead]

You should consider the nationalities of your characters. If they happen to come from Japan or have japanese relatives then it's perfectly fine. However, it would be a little weird if they were regular western people who just happened to have Japanese names. Granted, it does happen in reality, but it's a very rare occurence.