is Hizashi a noun or a proper name?


I am considering using this word to name a new brand however I don't want it
to be named after the popular Anime character. Does Hizashi mean "rays of the
sun" and can it be separated from the character?




> Is Hizashi a noun or a proper name?

Yes. :)

In more detail, _hizashi_ is both.

### As a name

As we can see [here in Jim Breen's mirror of the ENAMDICT name
dictionary](http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic?2MUJ%E3%81%B2%E3%81%96%E3%81%97), ひざし as a name may have the
following spellings and name types:

  * 陽 -- feminine given name, as indicated by the `(f)` marker after the "Hizashi" reading.
  * 日差子 -- given name, of uncertain gender, as indicated by the `(g)` marker -- but given the 子 in the spelling, this is almost certainly a feminine name.
  * 陽向 -- surname, as indicated by the `(s)` marker.

### As a noun

And as we can see [here in Jim Breen's mirror of the EDICT general terms
dictionary](http://nihongo.monash.edu/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic?1MUJ%E3%81%B2%E3%81%96%E3%81%97), ひざし as a noun may have the
following spellings, all with the same sense of "sunlight; rays of the sun":

  * 日差し
  * 陽射し
  * 日射し
  * 陽差し
  * 日ざし
  * 陽ざし
  * 日差
  * 陽射

### Derivation

The term, as either name or noun, derives from [日]{hi} ("sun") + [差し]{sashi}
("sticking or pointing through", here in reference to the beams of sunlight).

