Ryukyuan names

Members of the scholar-aristocracies of the Ryûkyû Kingdom typically had several names. In addition to childhood names (warabina, 童名), they would typically have a Chinese-style name (karana, 唐名), and a Ryukyuan name paired with their title, as well as a family lineage name.

To give one example, the scholar-official Nakijin Chôgi (1702-1787) was anji and jitô of Nakijin (this was the territory he administered, or held in fief); combined with his Ryukyuan name Chôgi, he is thus known as Nakijin Chôgi　今帰仁朝義 or Nakijin anji Chôgi. However, he was also head of the Gushikawa family 具志川家, a branch of the royal family, and bore the Chinese-style name Shô Senbo 向宣謨. His father, Nakijin Chôki 今帰仁朝季, bore the same title of "anji of Nakijin," the same Chinese-style surname Shô, and the same Ryukyuan family name of Gushikawa, but a different "given name" Chôki, and a different Chinese "given name" as well.

Ryukyu-style Names

One of the surname-like referents by which many Ryukyuan figures are known today is by the placename of their fief, or of the area they administered. As in the example given above, particular anji ("lords") of Nakijin were known as Nakijin Chôgi, Nakijin Chôki, and Nakijin Chôei. The famous figure of Jana ueekata, who died in 1611 rather than submit to Satsuma han authority, serves as a good illustration of this mode as well; though he is by far the most famous figure to hold the title of "ueekata of Jana," this is merely a title, not an individual name, and many would have shared that title over history. This particular figure might be more specifically identified by his Ryukyu-style name Jana Rizan 謝名利山, or by his Chinese-style name Tei Dô (C: Zhèng Dòng) 鄭迵.

These place-based names changed with an individual's appointment or title, and so while we know historical figures by a particular name today, these names would have changed over the course of an individual's career. For example, the Naha scholar-official known on this Wiki as Bai Ien (1813-1881) was the son of Takazato peechin Iki 高里親雲上唯紀 (or Takazato Iki), and so might be referred to as Takazato Ien, as he moved over the course of his career from Takazato chikudun to Takazato chikudun peechin to Takazato peechin; however, in 1858, his fief was changed to the village of Fukuchi (or Fukuji) in Kyan magiri, and as Ien's title changed from Takazato peechin to Fukuji (or Fukuchi) peechin, so would his appellation change to Fukuji Ien. Following the abolition of the kingdom in the 1870s, his family, which had only held the title of Fukuji peechin for a single generation, and which traced its lineage through the Chinese-style name Bai (貝, C: Bèi), was formally entered into the Japanese koseki system of family registers as the Fukuji family.

As for the given-name portion of the Ryukyuan name, is clear from these examples, it was common among the scholar-aristocracy to maintain the same first character across the generations. Members of the Gushikawa family mentioned above included Nakijin Chôki 今帰仁朝季, Nakijin Chôgi 今帰仁朝義, Nakijin Chôei 今帰仁朝英, and Nakijin Chôfu 今帰仁朝敷, all sharing the character 朝 (chô). The forefathers and sons of Bai Ien, including Bai Iki, Bai Izen, and Bai Igen all shared the character 唯 (i).