Where does “名前” come from?

名前 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 名, from Middle Chinese 名 — name.

名前 (Japanese): a name

Definitions

  1. a name

Ancestry of “名前”, step by step

名前 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 名

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese名name; reputation; famous, great, noted
2Middle Chinese名name

via Japanese 前

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese前the front; the past; previous
2Middle Chinese前—
Every word from Middle Chinese 名 →Every word from Japanese 名 →