こんばんは！
 

こんばんは皆さん、元気でね？

I have a question.
My friend has called her dog the name 祝/岩井（いわい）. It's called celebration, a festival or congratulation.
Now is my question... : Is Iwai as a name only write down in Kanji or just hiragana??

Thank you for your help! :) どうも！


Greetings,

デイヴィッドハーリー。

As a name, it can be written in kanji: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/岩井俊二

However, it doesn't mean "celebration" there. It's like a "rocky well" or "muck well" or something odd. It should be treated more as "just a surname" (not a name to give a dog) than "a name that means something."

I can't say that I've ever seen the first as a name, but I have never lived in Japan with pets. I'd take a wild guess that since animal types (e.g., ネズミ rather than 鼠) are typically written in katakana, pet names would also be written in katakana. This is, however, a completely wild guess.

People write their pet names however they like to. They use all three writing systems. Which one to use largely, if not entirely, depends on what name it is. Many pets are given "Western names" such as John and Suzan, in which case they would surely be written in katakana.

As KyleGoetz says, 岩井 is a family name. I wouldn't name my pet Jones or Hernandez but hey, it's your pet. 祝 does mean celebration. A Japanese person wouldnt name a pet 祝 but then again, your friend isn't Japanese and her dog has already been named as far as the sounds, correct?

So, feel free to write it anyway you want to. 祝、岩井、いわい、イワイ....　

Yes the dog is already named to the sounds. Can't change it again. :p
Thank you very much for this information! :) This helps me alot.