One: What does 'ko' in Ranko mean? I know 'ma'
means horse and 'Ran' is
suppose to mean wild. So what does 'Ranko' mean?
Child with a conotation of feminity, Ranko means
Wild Child.
##To the best of my knowledge "ko" is used on both
masculine and feminine personal names (namae).
"Traditionally the family name or �myoji� comes first
and the personal name or �namae� last. Middle names
are
not used nowadays but up until the C19th, people might
have several of these to describe their occupation or
characteristics. Only noble families had surnames and
only the males could pass them on but when the Meiji
government came to power after the fall of the Edo
Shogunate in 1853, it was decided that everybody
should
have one. The royal family has no family name and
women marrying into it lose theirs."
"The bushi or samurai families tended to use certain
names for their sons and this continues today."
1) eldest son:: Ichiro (mod.-ichi or -kazu suffix)
2) second son:: Jiro, Chojiro (ji suffix)
3) third son:: Saburo, Kanzaburo (zo suffix 3rd son)
4) fourth son:: Shiro, Heishiro
5) fifth son:: Goro, Daigoro
Masculine or neutral names ending in "ko" are:
Akihiko, Gekko, Haruhiko
"ko" seems to be used more often used in feminine
names, but it is not exclusive.
"Common elements are popular within families, one of
the most frequently occurring being the ending '-ko'
or
'child' added to another word. Hence 'Yukiko' or
'Snow-child', although Yuki can be a separate name.
Other suffixes include -mi, beauty and -hime,
princess. The wife of a bushi usually added -gozen to
her name. When her husband died, she would usually
become a nun and add the suffix -in instead
(Hoshun-in, Koudai-in)."
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