I saw a survey of popular Japanese names for 2009. The top 5 names for boys are, "Hiroto," "Shouta," "Ren," " Souta" and "Sora". The top 5 names for girls are, "Rin," "Sakura," "Hina," "Yua" and "Yuna". Since Japanese names are usually written in kanji (sometime in hiragana), even the same name can be written in many different ways. Having "ko" at the end of a name (like my name, "Namiko") was quite common for girls a while back, but I only see one name ("Riko") that has this pattern in the top 50 list this year. Many of the girl's names are two syllables and have a cute sound. It is interesting that the list of the names is quite different from my classmate's names at elementary school. It might not be too long till a younger generation finds my name grandma-ish.
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Comments
In comparison with western names its very unusual that names become outdated.
Western names are mostly the same, so its meaningless which year it is.
Its also very interesting that names can be created by using different kanji.
Well it seems like another specialty about japan I guess. ^_^
My wife and I live in Japan and we had our second son this year. We’ve tried to give our kids names that are pronounceable in both English and Japanese, and make sense in both languages as well. This is much easier with girl’s names (”Hana,” “Sara,” “Lily”) but a little tougher with boy’s names (just try to pronounce “Hide” or “Yudai” or “Sosuke” with a Western accent). Our first son is “Eamon,” or 衛門, and our newborn is “Luka,” or 琉海. We were very close to naming #2 “Ren” until we learned how popular it has become.
Here in Belgium I do notice a slight tendency to use ‘older’ names for newborns. For example, the name ‘Louise’ used to be a common girl name some 50-60 years ago and is gaining popularity rather quickly. Same goes for other ‘older’ names.
Also, the names my siter (who’s a midwife) brings home from work every day are getting weirder and weirder. People are even naming their children after Scandinavian gods nowadays. It’s fun and unique up to a certain point, but sometimes a wonder what’s wrong with authentic Flemmish names. Must be me getting old ^^ Also there is a noticeable tendency to use more common names in western Flanders than anywhere else.
Most common name in Flanders is Emma for a girl and Noah for a boy. In our capital that is Sophie and Mohamed respectively
..as an Englishman and adoring many things Japanese including the beautiful language I would like to mention my most favorite Japanese female names, I adore the names Mihoko and Megumi, how lovely they sound..thanks for the interesting name list, Ima, shinnen omedetou gozaimasu!
It’s interesting, using Wolfram Alpha, to study the ebbs and flows of names over the years. It really makes someone wonder why, generation to generation, names come into favor, fall out, and come back.
In my country (Malaysia), the naming are greatly influenced by Arabic names as Islam was brought in by merchant from Arab countries and the Holy book is in Arabic Language..this applied for Malay only..as for others (Malaysia is multiracial), they follow their own tradition and culture..many incorporate English name with regard to their religion (Christianity) despite their race (I mean Indian and Chinese add English name to their original names)..however, the trend of naming in Malay society nowadays is to have a rather unique and fun-to-call names that the meaning (in Arabic) is sometimes off..
I’ve never heard of those boy’s names. Souta and Shouta? Interesting.
My Japanese pal named her baby boy Hajime. The kanji is very simple. –> 元
I’m student and still not marry yet.i’m very interested with japan.all about japan include culture,technology,people and many more.
Hello!! May be this comment is very late from the previous one, but I felt that I have to leave a comment, since I´m pregnat (I’m having a girl) I choose the name Eiko, Ilove japanese culture and I’m studying the language, also this name is beautiful and easy to pronounce, it may prevent that other people make fun out of her name in the future (since here in Costa Rica people tend to make fun of your name).
I taught public school in Japan for 5 years, and I’ve taught kids with all these names except for “Sora” (boy) and “Yua” (girl).
Well I heard of those names a lot except for Hiroto, really popular indeed. I love your information, thank you for sharing.
Hi, i’m very much interested about Japanese, almost everything about Japanese and I am now looking forward to have more Japanese friends as the brush up my language. Please feel free to join in at Facebook
Hear from you soon and please keep up the good posting
Arigato gozaimasu
I have heard these names and i really like these japanese names.
Few more names of Japanese origin i do like are Hacchi, Sachio, Hajime, Sadao…..
I’m an Indonesian and I really fond of all about japan^o^
I’m looking for japanese baby name for my baby in future. I think Sora is a very cool name. Does anyone know any good combination name of “Sora” (except Aoi Sora, heard it too oftenly) either for boys or girls?
ありがとう ^o^
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