Save Type Surname (from location) Usage Japanese Scripts 古川, 古河(Japanese Kanji) ふるかわ(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. FOO-ROO-KA-WA [key·IPA] Meaning & History From Japanese 古 (furu) meaning "old" and 川 (kawa) or 河 (kawa) both meaning "river, stream".