What does the ending “maru” mean in a japanese name?
The word maru (meaning “circle”) is often attached to Japanese ship names. There are several theories associated with this practice. * (The commonest): That ships were thought of as floating castles, and the word referred to the defensive “circles” or maru that protected the castle. * That the suffix -maru is often applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships. * That the term maru is used in divination and represents perfection or completeness, or the ship as a small world of its own. * A legend of Hakudo Maru, a celestial being that came to earth and taught humans how to build ships. It is said that the name maru is attached to a ship to secure celestial protection for it as it travels. * For the past few centuries, only non-warships bore the maru ending. It was intended to be used as a good hope naming convention that would allow the ship to leave port, travel the world, and return safely to home port–hence the complete circ
