Are 髙 and 高 interchangeable?


At my old job, I knew someone by the name of Takahashi (last name).

Sometimes I'd see their name spelled 高橋 and sometimes 髙橋.

Why was 高 sometimes used and why was 髙 sometimes used?




The short answer is that 髙, or 「はしごたか」, is an alternate form of 高, and as such
some people might use it. It does _not_ represent a new/old character
relationship (新字体・旧字体), however 髙 could have been a hand-written form.

Apparently, though, this character is a little special, and it seems as though
you're not technically allowed to use it in names. [This
article](http://dictionary.sanseido-publ.co.jp/wp/2011/04/21/taka/) put out on
the website of 三省堂, a prominent Japanese dictionary publishing company,
comments on the character's history. It seems that 髙 was originally proposed
as a form to consolidate and make consistent the characters used in printing
type (活字字体). There was, however, a concurrent movement to reduce the stroke
order and complexity of characters in the 当用漢字, the precursor to 常用漢字, and the
change was scrapped. There were various revisions and updates to the naming
standards, but the new printed version "髙" was continually left out (despite
continued attempts to use it).

[Other
places](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1311050408)
say that the 髙 form existed as a hand-written form, and that now that 高 is
standardized, 髙 is relegated to the status of "俗字."

So with your previous colleague, my guess is that they wanted to use 髙, or
maybe that it was in the past or something. It's hard to type now as well,
which would make it even more likely for someone to use 高 instead.

_If_ my understanding is correct, then this person's name is officially
registered with 高 instead. The alternate [form does not appear on the
人名用漢字表](http://www.moj.go.jp/content/000058122.pdf) either in the standard
kanji or in the approved alternate forms.




The short answer is that 髙, or 「はしごたか」, is an alternate form of 高, and as such
some people might use it. It does _not_ represent a new/old character
relationship (新字体・旧字体), however 髙 could have been a hand-written form.

Apparently, though, this character is a little special, and it seems as though
you're not technically allowed to use it in names. [This
article](http://dictionary.sanseido-publ.co.jp/wp/2011/04/21/taka/) put out on
the website of 三省堂, a prominent Japanese dictionary publishing company,
comments on the character's history. It seems that 髙 was originally proposed
as a form to consolidate and make consistent the characters used in printing
type (活字字体). There was, however, a concurrent movement to reduce the stroke
order and complexity of characters in the 当用漢字, the precursor to 常用漢字, and the
change was scrapped. There were various revisions and updates to the naming
standards, but the new printed version "髙" was continually left out (despite
continued attempts to use it).

[Other
places](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1311050408)
say that the 髙 form existed as a hand-written form, and that now that 高 is
standardized, 髙 is relegated to the status of "俗字."

So with your previous colleague, my guess is that they wanted to use 髙, or
maybe that it was in the past or something. It's hard to type now as well,
which would make it even more likely for someone to use 高 instead.

_If_ my understanding is correct, then this person's name is officially
registered with 高 instead. The alternate [form does not appear on the
人名用漢字表](http://www.moj.go.jp/content/000058122.pdf) either in the standard
kanji or in the approved alternate forms.

