Remember that Sess-centric episode of the anime in which a girl named Sarah fell in love with Sesshomaru? I have always wondered if Sarah was a name that was in use in Japan at the time. If not, why did the powers that be decide to use a non-Japanese name? The girl was the daughter of a Japanese nobleman, not that of an early missionary, adventurer, or a foundling washed up on shore... According to what I have learned from reading, there was little cultural exchange between Japan and China or India, let alone Europe or the Middle-East, which I had thought was the source of the name. Sarah doesn't SOUND like a typical Japanese name, but is it one of those peculiar cultural universals, like the flood story? Any ideas?

It's actually "Sara" which is a Japanese name. I have a friend named Sara (and I would give you the characters but Dokuga isn't letting me post it so...)

So in Kanji my friend's name is "sa" meaning sedge and "ra" meaning good.