"nonoyuri"

 So uh, since it looks like we’re all talking about our names here I thought I’d hop on board.

As you may or may not know, my name is Noyuri Yamazaki. Nice to meet you all.

Yamazaki is obviously a very very common name here. Yamazaki bread, Daily Yamazaki,...you name it, there’s probably a brand with Yamazaki in its name.

But Noyuri on the other hand….

Believe it or not, my name was actually taken from the bible. Which is kinda ironic, considering I’m not religious in the slightest. But my parents and relatives are. My dad’s side is Christian, and my mom’s side Buddhist. My name was picked out by my grandmother on my dad’s side.

It comes from a phrase in the bible: 「野の百合」 or in English, "lily of the field”. Whenever I joined in at church when visiting my grandparents as a child, I’d always set out on a mission to find my name in whatever bible I can get my tiny hands on. Never was I fruitful, sadly, until one day my grandmother (I guess she was exasperated with me always burying my nose in the bible) showed me herself. I was devastated. I’d always thought that my name, 「野百合 」or 「のゆり」would be in there as it is, but I discovered that day that it wasn’t. I’d been lied to.

As for nicknames, I’ve gone by many in the past; Noyu, Yuri, Yama-chan, Zaki-san, Lily. I think I like Noyu, it feels the most like me. My parents call me that, and all my closest childhood friends too. So yeah, nice to meet you everyone, I’m Noyuri, but you can call me Noyu:)

bonus!!

So hahahah funny story. Back when I lived in the states, NOBODY could pronounce my name except for a few of my bestest friends. So for a large portion of my life, I tragically went by  “Noo-yoh-ri”:D I’d correct people at first, but after a while I just gave up. Once, a substitute teacher miraculously pronounced my name right on their first try and I was quietly celebrating in my head, when this girl in my class actually CORRECTED the teacher and told her that it was Nooyori D: And being the shy little kid I was, I did nothing… SO glad that’s over. 

By the way, the “correct” pronunciation of my name(or what I branded as correct, taking into account American pronunciation)  is “No” as in the opposite of yes, “yur” as in the first syllable of Europe, and eeeee. But obviously the regular Japanese way of pronouncing it is ACTUALLY the correct way so that’s totally fine too.