What is "nanori"

n. (context linguistics English) A Japanese reading of a kanji character that is used for names of people or places.

are kanji character readings (pronunciations) found almost exclusively in Japanese names.

In the Japanese language, many Japanese names are constructed from common characters with standard pronunciations. However, names may also contain characters which only occur as parts of names. Some standard characters also have special pronunciations when used in names. For example, the character 希, meaning "hope" or "rare", usually has the pronunciation ki (or sometimes ke or mare). However, as a female name it can be pronounced Nozomi.

In compounds, nanori readings can be used in conjunction with other readings, such as in the name Iida (飯田). Here, the special nanori reading of (, ii) and a standard kun'yomi reading of (, da) are combined. Often (as in the previous example), the nanori reading is related to the general meaning of the kanji, as it is frequently an old fashioned way to read the character that has since fallen into disuse.