Varieties ending in -maru (-丸)

[bispurious]

This is for the Japanese speakers out there: many varieties of fukiran end in the character 丸, pronounced 'maru'. I know that this character is a common suffix for the name of a ship (i.e. the famous whaling vessel Nisshin Maru, 日新丸), and I was wondering if its use in naming fukiran varieties is related to this meaning. Anyone know for sure?

(Its more usual meaning, circle, is also a possibility, I guess, but I'd say the ship-naming suffix reading is more poetic...)

[Ray]

Japanese_ship-naming_conventions

[Hakumin]

From my understanding, it is a somewhat common suffix used in certain naming conventions including:

Male names
Swords and knives
Domesticated Animals (often horses and dogs)
Ships

I don't think it has an official meaning.

I have noticed that more often than not it seems to be used for bean leaf types and ones with smaller growth habits, although this isn't guaranteed.

On the Japanese version of the Wikipedia article linked above by Ray regarding ship naming conventions in Japan, it mentions that even for ships, there's no certainty as to why the maru is often used as a suffix for names, but it does mention within one likely theory that "since the Heian period, the custom of using 'maru' in ways akin to personal names became a common convention in the naming of loved possessions (or possibly important possessions) much like names for swords or names for dogs."

The usage probably originally came from its use in personal names, then slowly became used for other objects for different reasons. However, it seems frequently carry a "pet name" or "endearment" connotation, with one theory being that "maru" is a corruption of an old affectionate suffix for names of young men, -maro (麻呂).

[naoki]

I don't know for sure, but I think Hakumin's explanation is really convincing (derived from maro). -maru is usually used in OLD names, and its usage isn't common anymore. As Hakumin mentioned, it's not limited to ship names. For example, here is a historical figure (Ushiwakamaru) Minamoto no Yoshitsune - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It means round or circle, and it has "good" feeling in Japan (we frequently use chinese characters with good meaning to make names), and it is unlikely that it is describing the characteristics of a particular variety.

[bispurious]

Thanks so much, guys! It's interesting that it's used in varieties that are supposed to resemble famous people's swords (like Benkeimaru), but also in varieties like Musoumaru, where the -maru's meaning is hard to pin down.

[minneSNOWta]

My Japanese friend who lives in the states cannot translate the old kanji. Even when he uses his e-dictionary, it doesn't come out right. Jason at OL told me that the old kanji is mostly only understood by Neo growers. Someone who doesn't know Neo's will have a difficult time trying to translate the old style properly IIRC.

I have a 'Kujyakumaru', which means peacock.

[AnonYMouse]

A thought occurred as I was looking at Pilot's Sedirea (?) Minmaru-shima:

Are the Neos with the maru suffix bean leafs?

The Minmaru-shima pictured is roundish (maru-ee) with stripes (shima).

I could be totally wrong.

[Hakumin]

As mentioned before, the maru suffix does seem to be used very frequently with bean leaf plants, but it is definitely not always the case.

The best known example in western neo collecting is probably Ogonmaru (黄金丸), a yellow flowered plant.

Some examples otherwise:

Anzumaru, 杏丸

Bankokumaru, 万国丸

Fukujumaru, 福寿丸

Renjoumaru, 連城丸

There really isn't much of a prescribed method of naming neofinetia that growers use. It is true that the vast majority of neofinetias that have the -maru suffix are bean leaf plants, it's more of a trend than a rule. I have a feeling that namers just happen to like the -maru suffix because "maru" can mean round, which would describe the rounder leaves, and also since bean leaf plants can be seen as cuter than the normal leaves, reflecting the potential endearment or "cuteness" of the addition of -maru to a name.

[Pilot]

It's true, they are cute. I have a 3 year old daughter and I may change her name to Annamaru. She's not round, but she's damn cute.

[luckygrower]

I purchased Hime-kaioumaru from Japanese orchids and in the info it states that it is the bean form of the Amani Neo. I love this little guy. It has four growth's and just came into spike.