Old forms and new — the characters whose stroke counts differ
updated · 5 min read
Name divination reads tendencies from the stroke counts of the characters in a name. Those counts, it turns out, are not settled. For some characters the older form and the modern form have different counts.
One character common in Japanese surnames runs to five strokes in its modern form and to eighteen or nineteen in the older forms it descends from. Two people with what sounds like the same surname get different results depending which form appears on their family register.
These characters cluster in surnames. Japanese surnames have a long history, and older forms frequently survive on the register. Whether yours is one of them can be checked on that register.
The kinds of character that divide opinion
| Where it appears | What happens | Size of the difference |
|---|---|---|
| Surnames with a simplified modern form | The older form is kept on the register | Often large |
| Characters with two competing older forms | Different branches of a family use different ones | Often large |
| Characters simplified only slightly | A stroke or two either way | Small |
| Given names | Usually registered in the modern form | Rarely an issue |
The point is that it is mostly surnames. Given names are generally registered in modern forms, so the variation you meet is almost always on the family name.
Schools differ on the approach
One position holds that you should count by the older form; the other that you should count the form actually in use. The first gives weight to how a character came to be; the second to the shape used every day. Neither is the correct one.
What matters is not mixing schools partway. Counting the surname by the old form and the given name by the new puts the heaven and earth numbers on different bases, and the interpretation as a whole stops holding together.
How this service counts
This service counts the characters exactly as you enter them. Enter an older form and it counts by the older form; enter a modern one and it counts by the modern one. It never converts on your behalf.
It does not convert because that is not ours to decide. Whether you want the older or the modern form counted is yours to settle. Handling what you typed leaves that decision in your hands.
The stroke dictionary holds around thirteen thousand characters. Where a character outside it is entered, the result says so. It is never silently treated as a different character.
For characters where opinion divides, a note is shown as well. Knowing that this character is counted differently by different schools keeps you from swallowing the result whole.
If you cannot decide which to use
Using the character registered on your family record is the most consistent. Even where an abbreviated form is used day to day, the reasoning is that the formal character is the one to count.
Common questions
- Should I use the old form or the modern one?
- Using the character on your family register is the most consistent. This service counts what you enter, so you can try either.
- What happens if I enter a character the dictionary does not have?
- The result says that the character is not in the dictionary. It is never silently treated as another character. Read the result as indicative in that case.
- Should I use my maiden name or my married name?
- Generally the name you go by now. Where a surname has changed, the influence of the new one is read from that point onward.