How did naming work for the Ainu people?

Question

In my fantasy story, I'm basing a group of people off of the Ainu, and I want them to seem similar culturally. Did the Ainu have a family name - given name setup similar to the traditional Japanese or did they use something else entirely?

Answer 1

Below is a quote from an article about the historical Ainu from 1888. Modern Ainu are forced to use the naming conventions of whatever nation they currently live in, although they may still adhere to older conventions among themselves. That being said, who even qualifies as Ainu is a contentious issue in that culture, and there are very few people left who consider themselves Ainu and have that legitimacy in the eyes of other Ainu. For more information about the Ainu, or any other anthropologically documented culture, a good place to look is always the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) database online. Many libraries will have access to it and you should ask a reference librarian to help you connect.

"Not that it is necessary to continue the family name, for there is nothing of the kind among the Ainu. Each person has but one name, without any prefix or suffix to determine whose child he may be, and the name is often given from a mere whim; as, for example, if a baby-girl pitches upon a dirty old pot as her favorite plaything (and this is a very possible case, for toys are not common), the chances are that she will very soon be designated as "The Pot" or "The Kettle" by the family, and eventually the name will become affixed to her. Hence we may say that names are given to Ainu children very much the same way that nicknames attach themselves to children in America and Europe.

Not only are there no family names, but each person's name dies with its owner; the repetition of a name in different generations having nothing to do with the preservation of the memory of an older person. Children are not named for a rich uncle or a maiden aunt, to secure "prospects" for them. There are no posthumous names as with the Japanese, and a dead person is not spoken of by name if it can be avoided by any circumlocution; indeed, every effort is made to avoid all reference to the dead." Original article here: https://www.tota.world/article/271/