Describing aptronyms (names that fit their owner)


I thought of this after seeing a news article about 星出{ほしで}彰彦{あきひこ}, who is an
astronaut.

Aptronym is a term for a name (often the surname) that fits a person's
occupation or personality. A classic example is "Igor Judge" (a British judge,
also known as Lord Judge), but the name doesn't have to be precisely the same
as the occupation, for example, a florist with the surname "Flowers" or a chef
with the surname "Spoon" would count.

In English the term "aptronym" is not widely used (I think it was relatively
recently coined) but phrases such as "aptly named~" "fittingly named~" "an apt
name" "a fitting name" might be. In Japanese, how would one best describe a
name that fits the owner?

I had one thought: 仕事にぴったりな名前

I have found some indications that this is possible including one direct
mention of 星出さん:

  1. On the blog of a ikebana instructor called 花香, she mentions often getting the comment 「お花の仕事にぴったりな名前ですね」
  2. 星出さんなんて 宇宙飛行士{うちゅうひこうし}にぴったりな名前 (on twitter)

However I'd like to know if there are other terms (ふさわしい？合う？) that are used,
and if there is a coined term like "aptronym" used in Japanese. Famous
examples (real or fictional) would also be welcome.




I don't really like to bring up the subject of anime or manga as an example,
yet the first character that came to my mind was 夜神 月(ライト) from "Death Note".
There is a subculture that has made many references to the character's name
such as ライト signifying 光/正 due to his intelligence and sense of justice. As
well as 神 indicating that he acts in the way a god might having control over a
person's existence.

As far as I know, the term that I noticed most associated with this was "相応しい"
as you indicated before. In the context of fiction, someone might ask what the
origins of the name are or 由来.

There also exists a completely different context of "fitting names" that is
different than what you are asking, but I think it might be useful to include.
Maybe you have heard of some Japanese fitting certain readings to kanji
composed names that are not standard. For example, 光中 ー＞ ぴかちゅう. The slang term
for this is どきゅん or DQN. ぴったり as well as 相応しい are also used to describe this
situation where readings "fit" the name.




I remember reading when I was a high school student an auto-biography of a
mathematician named 矢野健太郎. His specialization was differential geometry. He
introduced his name to his colleagues that it means "vector field" (矢野).

