The use of なんというお名前ですか?


Basically, [I've been corrected on
Lang-8](http://lang-8.com/1175392/journals/89388753240708953573691087311691779178/%25E7%25A7%2581%25E3%2581%25AE%25E3%2581%25AA%25E3%2581%25BE%25E3%2581%2588%25E3%2580%2582?t=correction#journal_comment_217368597129492706286705882073422302314)
that [あなたの名前はですか] should be changed to [なんというお名前ですか], or [あなたの名前何といいますか].

After a quick search around, I found that なんという means how as in [how
[beautiful]]. I figured that this is a polite way of addressing the second-
person, but this still leaves me a little confused on the proper way to ask
for second-person's name. [何といい] didn't register as a word at all in a online
dictionary I've used, and some other members have said that [あなたの名前はですか] is
completely fine!

Could someone demystify this mess please?




Your sentence, あなたの名前はですか、 is both grammatically incorrect and rather rude
(once fixed) as well. As Earthling said, to make it grammatically correct, you
need to add [何]{なん} → 名前は何ですか

The impolite part is the use of the pronoun あなた; Japanese learners are best to
avoid this word -- as well as other second-person pronouns -- until they know
when to use it and when not to use it.

Typical ways of asking for somebody's name are:

> お[名前]{なまえ}は？
>
> お名前は[何]{なん}ですか。
>
> お名前は[何]{なん}と[言]{い}いますか。

Note that I'm using お名前 rather than 名前 or あなたの名前; the お prefix makes the word
'honorific', which in practice means that the word translates to **'your
name'.**

* * *

On second thought, it is fine to use あなた in a blog (?) post like that, when
you are talking to a reader in a one-way conversation. Textbooks use it all
the time. Most learners, however, aren't writing one-way conversations, so the
common advice still stands.

(I assume lang-8 is closer to a blog than to a forum.)

