Type Surname (from location) Usage Japanese Scripts 古川, 古河(Japanese Kanji) ふるかわ(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. /ɸɯᵝ.ɾɯᵝ.kä.ɰᵝä/ Meaning & History From Japanese 古 (furu) meaning "old" and 川 (kawa) or 河 (kawa) both meaning "river, stream".