Yang Bang-Ean (#8506)

[seanne]

I'm not sure how best to handle the naming of someone like this who has two official names.

[KeyLogic]

I own the Aion soundtrack that he composed and the back cover shows his name as "Yang Bang Ean(Ryo Kunihiko)". If I remember correctly, Yang Bang Ean is the name he's known by in Korea and Ryo Kunihiko is the name he's known by in Japan.

Follow soundTeMP member, ESTi, is often recognized by the name silhouetti in Japan, and in some cases, he'll use both aliases for a single soundtrack (example).

[Gigablah]

Using multiple aliases is fairly common; in Ryo Kunihiko's case though, both his names are simply different language readings of the same kanji. Anyway, here's what an interview on OSV revealed:

Kunihiko: To tell you the truth, both names are the same, based on the Chinese Kanji characters, but the meaning could go in two different ways depending on the pronunciation. I was born and raised in Japan. That's why my father chose this name. It's a Korean name, but it's not a strange name in Japanese either.

I had worked as a music producer in Japan and Hong Kong using "Ryo Kunihiko" before I worked in Korea. That's why I prefer to be called Ryo Kunihiko.

Our policy is to name artist entries based upon their most current preference, so Ryo Kunihiko should be the primary name (while Yang Bang-Ean would be his birth name).

[CHz]

We had this one backwards: Kunihiko is his given name and Ryo is his surname.

EDIT: Also, Yang Bang-Ean is in surname-first order, in WESTERN AND THEREFORE COMPLETELY SUPERIOR IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY order it would be Bang-Ean Yang. He doesn't hyphenate his given name, though; see the Aion OST and his Korean homepage.