Most common situation when this counter is used is in services (e.g. restaurants) - when entering the staff will ask you “何名様ですか。” - how many people are in your group?
(Note that you shouldn’t reply using 名 - it’s considered arrogant to do so. To stay humble reply using 人 (nin) counter.)
The usage is not limited to services though. It’s also used to count participants on various formal occasions (ceremonies, meetings), or count names in a list, and also in articles when reporting for example how many people were involved in an incident.
| No. | Kana | Kanji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | いちめい | 一名 |
| 2 | にめい | 二名 |
| 3 | さんめい | 三名 |
| 4 | よんめい | 四名 |
| 5 | ごめい | 五名 |
| 6 | ろくめい | 六名 |
| 7 | ななめい | 七名 |
| 8 | はちめい | 八名 |
| 9 | きゅうめい | 九名 |
| 10 | じゅうめい | 十名 |
| 11 | じゅういちめい | 十一名 |
| 12 | じゅうにめい | 十二名 |
| 13 | じゅうさんめい | 十三名 |
| 20 | にじゅうめい | 二十名 |
| 21 | にじゅういちめい | 二十一名 |
| 100 | ひゃくめい | 百名 |
| 1000 | せんめい | 千名 |
| 10 000 | いちまんめい | 一万名 |
| 100 000 000 | いちおくめい | 一億名 |
| How many | なんめい | 何名 |
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