Hi Al,
That's always a difficult decision to make. I suppose generally you can say that most Japanese names are 1-3 kanji for the family name and 1-4 for the given name. Aphorisms/mottos can be anywhere from 2-5 kanji ... and much longer if citing a poem or famous passage.
The general rule about Japanese language is to not make any general rules. (^__^)
Generally speaking, that is!
--Guy
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