Can the surname "Laney" be a japanese surname?

Question

Well, this surname for a japanese person is extremely uncommon in my eyes,

 But is it any possible chance that it's can be from a japanese person?

 Not originated there but, I wonder how?

 Also I keep hearing the Cherokee Indians descended from the Ainu, is that true too?

Answer 1

Laney is an English surname, so it seems pretty unlikely unless that Japanese person was adopted by an English person or married into an English family. Japan was occupied by the British after the second world war, so maybe it was brought then.

(There's no "L" sound in the Japanese alphabet - the closest that language gets is a bit of a rolling "R.")
 

This Yahoo! Answers question has some interesting links about the Cherokee and Ainu.

Answer 2

I agree with Erin. I don't see Laney in the WWWJDIC Online Japanese Dictionary Service. The name dictionary is the Japanese Names (ENAMDICT) option in the Dictionary list. It shows that the non-Japanese name is rendered as レーニー in the Japanese katakana characters that are used to spell foreign words. It would be read the same as Raney (reinii) by a Japanese speaker.

Karen Tobo
aka   カレン・当房