Your Name (君の名は。)
君の名は？
Kimi no na wa?
“What's your name?”
— Taki Tachibana & Mitsuha Miyamizu
Answer both practice questions correctly to complete this line.
Not yetThe scene
Two teenagers who keep waking up in each other's bodies finally stand face to face at twilight — kataware-doki, the hour when the world blurs. The question they have been circling for the whole film is the film's title itself, and it is one of the most famous scenes in anime film history.
Word by word
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 君 | kimi | 'you' — familiar; used with friends and juniors, and in songs and poems, to someone dear |
| の | no | possessive particle: 's / of — 君の = your |
| 名 | na | name — the short, literary form of 名前 (namae) |
| は | wa | topic particle — written は but pronounced 'wa' |
Grammar notes
の: the possessive glue
Put の between two nouns and the first owns the second: 君の名 (your name), 私の名前 (my name), 友達の家 (a friend's house). One tiny particle does the work of English 's and 'of'.
A question can be just a melody
名は？ with a rising intonation is a complete question — Japanese often asks simply by lifting the end of the phrase, no question word needed. Add か and endings for the fuller, politer forms, or keep it floating the way the film does.
Can you say this in real life?
Asking a real stranger 君の名は？ sounds like quoting the film (or a poem) — 君 is familiar and a touch literary, and 名 is the poetic short form. In real life, ask お名前は？ (o-namae wa?) — polite, natural, and what Japanese people actually say to someone they have just met.
Practice
Q1. What does 「君の名は？」 ask?
Q2. 「私＿＿名前はモコです」 (My name is Moko)
Read & Watch Your Name
The best way to enjoy this line in the wild is to meet it in the original work. Official places to read and watch Your Name will be listed here.
Manga
Links coming soon.
Streaming
Links coming soon.
DVD & Blu-ray
Links coming soon.
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