How would a Japanese woman hyphenate her last name?


Women frequently hyphenate their last names like Sarah Huckabee-Sanders. How
would a Japanese woman with a Japanese maiden and married name added,
hyphenate her last name?




Legally she **cannot** do this. Under Japanese law you can only have one
surname registered on your residence and family register documents. If her
husband is Japanese, then she will have to change her family name to his (as
he is head of the household). If her husband is a foreigner, she is permitted
to keep her family name (and is legally head of the household).

What she is known by informally is up to her but it's not her legal name in
Japan. Japanese culture _does not_ have a tradition of hypenating family names
(or middle names). These are only permitted for writing foreign names in
Japanese.

There is a convention for writing hypenated foreign names in Katakana but
there is not one for hypenating native Japanese names in Kanji (as this never
done).

Note that Japanese people have their _family names_ first before their _given
names_ (so calling it a last name is discouraged to avoid confusion).




Legally she **cannot** do this. Under Japanese law you can only have one
surname registered on your residence and family register documents. If her
husband is Japanese, then she will have to change her family name to his (as
he is head of the household). If her husband is a foreigner, she is permitted
to keep her family name (and is legally head of the household).

What she is known by informally is up to her but it's not her legal name in
Japan. Japanese culture _does not_ have a tradition of hypenating family names
(or middle names). These are only permitted for writing foreign names in
Japanese.

There is a convention for writing hypenated foreign names in Katakana but
there is not one for hypenating native Japanese names in Kanji (as this never
done).

Note that Japanese people have their _family names_ first before their _given
names_ (so calling it a last name is discouraged to avoid confusion).

