This one: 雏名 (雛名) The bracketed one is its traditional/kanji version. In the novel, I am currently reading, it's supposed to be the family name of one of the characters. But I have no idea how to write/pronounce it in romaji. It's bothering me a bit.
Yeah, this is a Japanese name. Supposed to be the family name of one of the characters. But it's one of them unconventional ones so the usual kanji dictionaries are not helpful. For example, if you look up 三千院 in a normal kanji dictionary, you won't find anything. But everyone who has read Hayate the Combat Butler...
(Goes to http://classic.jisho.org) (Pastes the surname.) (Chooses "Names and places (JMnedict)" as dictionary.) (Clicks on "search".) (Nothing, it's either invented or very rare.) (Googles first one.) (Only chinese pages.) (Googles the second one.) (There's a weblio page that says "Hinana", but nothing to back it up.) (Back to jisho.org.) (Chacks by kanji.) ("Simplified" version proven to not be proper japanese.) ("Traditional" gets results.) Most plausible readings, apart from weblio's "Hinana" are "Suto", "Jyuuto" and "Jyumei". Given the rarity of the kanji combination, you should check the first appearance in the raws to see if there's furigana. If the raws are chinese, it's like "foreign" names in japanese media: most likely invented and thus read the chinese way.
Is the novel Chinese? Since you wrote the name in simplified characters I'm assuming it's a JP name in a CN novel. It could just be a typo by the author, have you checked so it's always 雏名 and never 椎名 if it's a recurring character?
Ah yes, it's from a Chinese novel. And yeah, it's always 雏名 and never 椎名. But it's probably a typo. Maybe the author made things up without properly studying Japanese names.
Okay, I know it's been a long time, but I only just recently came across a real life Japanese musician by the name of 徳丸十盟 (Jumei Tokumaru). Therefore, I've decided to go with Jumei as the romaji version of 雛名. The reason being, one of the ways to pronounce 雛 is Ju. And one of the ways to pronounce 名 is mei, myo and na being alternative pronunciations. So, since there is a Jumei in real life, I think it's safe to call 雛名 Jumei too. What do you all think?