Differences between Virtual YouTuber (VTuber) names and human names

This article examines the characteristics of Virtual YouTuber (VTuber) names by comparing them with human names. Especially, it focuses on differences caused by the fact that some constraints and restrictions on human names are not applied to VTuber names. VTuber names are freer because the constraints and restrictions on human names are not applied. Specifically, when giving names to VTubers compared to humans, (1) there are no constraints on varieties of usable characters (only Chinese characters, hiragana, and katakana are usable for human names: other types of characters such as Arabic numbers, alphabets, and marks are prohibited), (2) there are no constraints on varieties of usable Chinese characters (there is a constraint on varieties of Chinese characters for human names: 2,999 characters), (3) people can decide first names (forenames) of their own VTubers by themselves (first names of humans are given by others such as parents and guardians), and (4) people can decide last names (surnames) of their own VTubers by themselves (last names of humans are automatically set as a family member in most cases). These differences in the constraints and restrictions produce various differences between VTuber names and human names. The fact that people can freely give names to VTubers reflects the high level of freedom VTubers have in their activities and also creates this freedom itself. Moreover, investigating the differences between VTuber names and human names clarifies how human names are constrained and restricted.