Official radical names (部首{ぶしゅ}名称{めいしょう}) vs radical nicknames (部首{ぶしゅ}通称{つうしょう})


[There seems to be](http://etc.dounokouno.com/bushu-search/bushu-list.html) a
great many nicknames, but only one official name for each radical. I'm thus
more inclined to learn the latter, but I'm left wondering about the
practicality of that. All of the other radical lists that I've seen, whether
English or Japanese, only list the nicknames. Are the official names rarely
used in Japanese? Is it worth learning them? What about the nicknames, should
I learn all of them? And most importantly, which names will show on the Kanji
Kentei (漢字検定{かんじけんてい})?




At Japanese elementary and middle school, students learn the 通称 names in the
table in the linked page. Virtually every native Japanese adult knows しんにょう
and ぎょうにんべん, but not 辵部【ちゃくぶ】 nor 彳部【てきぶ】. I don't know where these "official"
names are used.

On 漢字検定, it appears that [the names of 部首 are not directly
asked](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1252268412).
Instead, you need to write the radical itself
([example](http://kanken2kyu.jimdo.com/%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96-%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C%E9%9B%86/%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96-%E9%9B%A3%E5%95%8F%E5%AF%BE%E7%AD%96/)).
This is probably because there are no official names for these radicals while
there are too many nicknames found in various dictionaries. Still it can be
safely said that average Japanese people learn radicals using one of the
"nicknames" on the right column.

I can't tell how many radical nicknames you need to learn... It depends on
what you want to do by learning these names.




At Japanese elementary and middle school, students learn the 通称 names in the
table in the linked page. Virtually every native Japanese adult knows しんにょう
and ぎょうにんべん, but not 辵部【ちゃくぶ】 nor 彳部【てきぶ】. I don't know where these "official"
names are used.

On 漢字検定, it appears that [the names of 部首 are not directly
asked](http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1252268412).
Instead, you need to write the radical itself
([example](http://kanken2kyu.jimdo.com/%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96-%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C%E9%9B%86/%E6%BC%A2%E5%AD%97%E3%81%AE%E9%83%A8%E9%A6%96-%E9%9B%A3%E5%95%8F%E5%AF%BE%E7%AD%96/)).
This is probably because there are no official names for these radicals while
there are too many nicknames found in various dictionaries. Still it can be
safely said that average Japanese people learn radicals using one of the
"nicknames" on the right column.

I can't tell how many radical nicknames you need to learn... It depends on
what you want to do by learning these names.

