Traditional Japanese naming for boys, not followed as widely these days as in the past literally just gives each kid a number ordering them by cardinality. Ichi

Traditional Japanese naming for boys, not followed as widely these days as in the past literally just gives each kid a number ordering them by cardinality. Ichiro = first son, Nichiro = second son, Saburo = third son and so on. I remember watching a TV show or maybe a movie from the black and white rerun era, where a stereotyped Asian father addressed his boys not by name but by number, as first son and second son and so on. I thought at the time this was some kind of ignorant caricature of the traditional primacy given to the first male child of a family, though not at all exclusive to Asia rather overtly expressed there. I was quite surprised to find out later on that this was a pretty straightforward calque of a genuine custom.