The highest-grossing anime film of all time, Kimi No Na Wa took the world by storm in 2016. Regarded as one of Makoto Shinkai’s best films, Kimi No Na Wa is receiving an English Hollywood live-action adaptation produced by JJ Abrams.
With millions of fans around the world, the film captured the hearts of die-hard anime lovers and was a great introduction to the anime medium for those who had never watched anime before.
For those that don’t understand Japanese, this article will unpack the Kimi No Na Wa English name, its meaning in Japanese, as well as the Kanji characters used in the title.
What does Kimi No Na Wa mean in English?
While the English title of Kimi No Na Wa is “Your Name”, that is not a direct translation of the phrase. Let’s start by breaking down the Japanese title word for word.
君 (kanji), きみ (hiragana), or kimi (roman characters) = you
の (hiragana) or no (roman characters) = character used to show possession. For example, kimi no means “your or yours”. Watashi (me, I) no means “my or mine”.
名 (kanji), な (hiragana), or na (roman characters) = name. However, it should be noted that the full word for “name” in Japanese is 名前 (na mae). After speaking to some Japanese friends, I learned that 名 is only used in writing to mean “name”.
It is an older style, a slightly poetic style, that people don’t say out loud anymore. This is why at the end of the film (Japanese version) Mitsuha and Taki DON’T say “kimi no na wa?”. Instead, they say “kimi no namae wa?”.
は (hiragana) or wa (roman characters) = is. Therefore, when we put it all together, the direct translation of the Japanese name is:
| Japanese | English |
| 君 | you |
| の | shows possession (you > your) |
| 名 | name |
| は | is |
君の名は。(kimi no na wa) = Your Name is?
I’ve added a question mark because at the end of the film, this phrase is a question. It can be used to state a fact “Your name is David”. However, in the film, it is used as a casual way to ask someone’s name.
We hope that this short guide helped you better understand the Kimi No Na Wa English name and how the title was translated. Hopefully, you even learned something new about the Japanese language in general. For more reading on Shinkai’s Your Name, check out:
