Sorry, but in direct/blind translation, it means "sun output"...But...!!!
Nissan, stands for, "Nipon(Japan) Product" or "Product of Nipon(Japan)". Ni, as in Nihon, as the Japanese/Nihon calls themselves, is the character for the sun. Nipon is what the Japanese calls Japan. Why do you think it's called the land of the rising sun? Nipon translated means the land of the rising sun!!! Direct translation comes out to be "sun origin".
History lesson, Nipon/Japan is located east of China, and in the early days, people thought the sun actually does rise from the island group off the coast of China, and called it the land of the rising sun, Nipon/Japan.
Now, a lesson in language, in that the word Japan is spelled in German. Meaning, Japan reads as Yapan! Cantonese speakers, when they read the character for Nipon, pronounce it as Yapan!!
So in German, Japan is correctly pronouced, but when changed into English, like many words, are pronounced incorrectly!!!
So to cap it off, Nissan, as in the corporation, means Product of Japan. Why, think of VW. What does VW mean? People's Car (Volk's Wagen, pronounce as, Folk's Vagen) VW was created in an era of blind nationalism. Guess when Nissan was created? Around the same time when Japan/Nipon was caught up in blind nationalism, and wanted something like people's car, but in Asian culture, the focus is on the country, hence, Product of Japan. Yup, that's not a typo. Nissan for the longest time was a nationally owned company backed by the government of Nipon/Japan until it was privatized later.
Cars imported into the US was sold under the name of Datsun, (son of rabbit), in fear that selling a product with the name of a country would not go too well with the consumers. The Pickup has always been called Datsun from the beginning, and that was the first vehicle Nissan imported into the US, and very likely, without being there, was the reason why Datsun was used for the longest time to save time on getting a name.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial[/img]quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by carsonjon:
Nissan does not mean "made in Japan". It literally translates as "a daily output". It's best understood to mean "production".
[This message has been edited by carsonjon (edited 02-27-2000).]<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>