distinguished family; good family; reputable family
Refers to a family with a long-standing reputation for excellence, often in a particular field such as arts, scholarship, or business.
彼は茶道の名家の出身だ。
He comes from a distinguished family of tea ceremony masters.
great master; expert; authority; eminent person
Used for a person recognized as a leading figure in a field, often with a sense of established reputation.
彼は経済学の名家として知られている。
He is known as an authority on economics.
Meika (historical kuge family rank)
Historical term for a court noble family rank in the kuge hierarchy, positioned above Hanke and below Urinke.
See also: 公家
江戸時代、名家は公家の家格の一つだった。
In the Edo period, Meika was one of the ranks of court noble families.
School of Names (ancient Chinese philosophy)
Historical term for a school of thought in ancient China, also known as the Logicians or Disputers, focused on logic and semantics.
名家は中国の諸子百家の一つで、論理学を重んじた。
The School of Names was one of the Hundred Schools of Thought in China, emphasizing logic.
名家 is the common term for a distinguished family line, while 大家 (rich-family sense) is a more formal or historical way to say the same thing.
名家 emphasizes a family's long lineage and historical prominence, while 名門 can refer more broadly to any prestigious family or institution.
From Middle Chinese 名家 (meng kæ), literally 'name house', referring to a renowned family or school. The historical Japanese court rank and Chinese philosophical school are specialized uses of the same compound.