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Okay, I am working on a new story-game and I have a few questions:

1. What would be a good name for a feudal Japanese assassin organization?  

2.What might be a few ranks I could include in this organization? Initiate? Apprentice? Journeyman? Master? Grandmaster? Are any of those too cliche?

3. What might be a good name for a feudal Japanese protagonist? Antagonist?

4. What would be a good name for a badass samurai (male or female; there were female samurai at one point, right?) who spends the majority of the game hunting down the protagonist?

1.  The Ansatsuken (means assasination fist)

2. Those sound good.

3. Look at the one below... you could choose one of those.

4.http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Category:Samurai&from=A

Hmm...interesting. I might just use one of those. I'm still open to other suggestions, though.

Ask BerkaZerka, he runs Mythic Nippon which is all about Japan.

Interesting, I'll be sure to ask him. Thanks. :) I'm trying not to reveal too many details about the game; I feel that doing so takes a lot away from a game.

You could use this website as inspiration.

http://fantasynamegenerators.com/

Also, Japan had many symbols of death such as black crows. So for your organization name you could use these:

Shi no te - translates to "Death's Hand"

Kurosuna - translates to "Black Sand"

Shi no te? Kurosuna? I like them. Thanks.

What about "Order of the Crimson Tears" for the name of the organization? @Danaos @coins

meh

That sounds more western than Japanese though it is a good name in my opinion. What I find that many like about organizations Japanese wise is the names are catchy and in Japanese. Such as the Akasuki, Yakuza, etc. You could find a couple of words that sound nice in English and translate it into Japanese.

Hmmm...I've tried that, but I still can't think of anything good.

You could also call them the Shinigami, Japanese gods of death. If they are a good assassin group, they could strike so much fear that people believe they actually are demons.

Shinigami is translates to Soul Reaper if I am correct.

Then you watch too much anime. The Soul Reapers in Bleach are Shinigami themselves. Shinigami = Gods of Death.

EDIT: Shinigami means "Reaper" in English

hehe I haven't watched Bleech for a very long time.

A little cliche, but I might use it. I'm still working out the kinks on the setting. I don't even have a definite time. I could pm you the plot if you would like, but I honestly don't want to give away any spoilers. And that applies to anyone interested, not just Danaos.

I'm willing to take a look at it.

Shinigami= death gods. Well, actually "gami" means spirit and "shi" means death.

Oni= demons.

Oh my god, yes, someone asked about Japanese stuff, including names! I WAS BORN FOR THIS!

Let's see. Shuurajou means "A scene of carnage" and references the battle ground where the Asura and Sakra war against each other. "Koroshiya" is just a word for professional killers. You could call it Yamata no Orochi after the famous "8 headed, 8 tailed serpent (dragon)" that... tricked the sun goddess, as I recall, and you could make it a gang that started with or consists of 8 families.

Continuing that thought, I'd go with a family theme personally, kind of like the Yakuza (Japanese mafia), and name the ranks accordingly. Like, Aniki is a gangster type title for an "older brother" or "upperclassman" who you look up to and who protects you. I can tell you more if you care.

A good name for a protagonist and antagonist, huh?  Well, for boy protagonists: Hikari / Hikaru means "Light" or "Radiance", Akihiko means "bright prince" Akio means "Glorious Hero", Daichi means "Great wisdom" Hideo means "splendid man" Hiro means "generous," Kenshin means "modest truth." Isamu means "courage."

For girl protagonists: Mikomi means "Hope" or "A chance", Akiko means "Bright child", Atsuko means "Kind child." Chika means "scattered flower" or "fine wisdom." Emi / Megumi means "Blessing" or "favor" Etsuko means "Child of joy," Haruko means "child of sunlight." Hotaru means "Firefly." Hoshi means "Star." Kotone means "sound of a harp" Makoto means "sincerity."

For boy antagonists, Hachiro means "eighth son." Actually, there are a -lot- of names like that, first son, second son, third, fourth, fifth, so on. You'd easily be able to name all of the leaders of the eight families if you went with that theme. Akumu means "Nightmare" and Yami means "Darkness, black market, the dark," Kage means "shadow / shade" Kurai means "dark" Oni means "Ogre" Hotaru means "despair" and Akuhei straight up means "evil" Yakunan means "misfortune." Neikan means "wicked, trecherous"

For girl antagonists, Chi means "Blood," Chiyoye means "Everlasting pain," Sayomi means "night-born," Rin means "Cold" and Tora means "tiger" Nikusui is the name of a "monster that appears as a young woman and sucks all of the flesh off of its victim's body." Kiyohime is "a woman who transformed into a serpent-demon out of the rage of unrequited love" and Kira means "killer"

There were female army generals, female ninjas ... and yeah, just re-checked, there were female samurai, too. They typically used a weapon called a naginata, which is basically a sword on a stick. Exhibit A, wikipedia "During the Edo Period, as the naginata became less useful for men on the battlefield, it became a symbol of the social status of women of the samurai class."

I can try and think of more good names if none of the above suit your tastes for a samurai name.

Female samurai were called Onna-bugeisha.

Tomoe Gozen, Hojo Masako, Empress Jingu and Nakano Takeko are all examples of Onna-bugeisha

Tsukikage Ran, Jiyu Nanohana, Oyuki and Makie Otono-Tachibana are fantasy examples.

Right. And if you play Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, you get to either fight alongside Tomoe or kick her ass... good game. I've actually read a lot about female warriors (not just Japanese ones) but it's still easy to forget they were even there. >_>' You just ... tend to think about dudes when you talk about historical wars. No offense intended, ladies.

Samurai Warriors. Nobunaga Oda = "Ultimate badass" in English.

... Was that a correction?

Nope...just something that is.

Kinda true but I just overlooked it :D

I'm not going with the Yakuza theme, but I do like some of the names. I will come back for reference. I will probably use Neikan for my antagonist's name and Isamu for the protagonist's.

Alright, I'm needing just a few good names for a few various roles. I already have the protagonist's and the antagonist's names. Here are some roles that I need names for:

The protagonist's elderly master. He is an old man with long, grey hair and a hardened, squinty gaze.

The samurai pursuing the protagonist (or I could leave him nameless to make him seem less like a human and more like an unrelenting killing machine).

A Buddhist monk (yes, I know that Buddhism wasn't the big thing in feudal japan, but it was still practiced).

The master assassin who gives the protagonist his assignments.

The grandmaster of this order of assassins. He doesn't make but like one appearance in the game, but still, he needs a good name. Maybe, something meaning "unseen" or "invisible". This would hint at his role in the game as well as his skills as an assassin.

A nobleman (don't know which kind yet). All you need to know is that he is a bad guy as well.

Again, thanks to everyone who is helping me with this.

Yamato is a good familiy name for a Noble man I think.

Maybe Yamato Mushashi?

I like it! Thanks. It makes sense that the nobleman have a surname, even if the others don't.