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9.3. How do Japanese names work?

Japanese names on a noticeboard
Photo credit: Angie Harms
Used under a Creative Commons licence1

Japanese people have two names, a surname, myōji (名字), and a forename, namae (名前). In Japanese, the surname comes before the forename, so a person with the surname Yamamoto and the forename Sanae would be referred to as Yamamoto Sanae. In the name order of English, this person would be referred to as "Sanae Yamamoto".

Japanese names are usually written in kanji. Surnames are almost always in kanji, and personal names are usually in kanji.

Japanese people do not have middle names, and middle names as such are not recognized in Japan except for foreigners.

Surnames

Japanese surnames are written in kanji. Unlike Chinese or Korean surnames, which only have one Chinese character, common Japanese surnames usually consist of either one, as in Hara (原) or Tokoro (所), or two, as in Suzuki (鈴木) or Yamamoto (山本) kanji, with the number increasing to as many as five in some cases.

The readings of most surnames are straightforward, but some characters may have more than one pronunciation. For example 中田 may be read either as Nakata or Nakada. Some surnames contain difficult combinations of characters, such as, for example 八月一 日, which appears to read hachigatsu tsuitachi, "the first of August", but is read Hozumi.

Jim Breen's enamdict dictionary of Japanese names contains about 138,500 different surnames with many more perhaps unclassified.

Many surnames are also place names, and the rules for forming names follow similar patterns.

Typical surnames combine two characters, such as

Romanization	Kanji	Meaning	Examples
asa	浅	shallow	Asano (浅野)	Surname of Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano
mae	前	front	Maeda (前田)
yoko	横	side	Yokoyama (横山), the tyre manufacturer
nishi	西	west	Nishimura (西村)
kita	北	north	Kitano (北野), the surname of film director and comedian "Beat Takeshi".
ao	青	blue (see 6.4. What colour is ao?)
aka	赤	red
kuro	黒	black	Kurosawa (黒澤), the film director's surname, meaning "black swamp"
kiyo, shi	清	pure
iwa	岩	rock	Iwashita (岩下)
ishi	石	stone	Ishibashi (石橋) "stone bridge", the name of the founder of the "Bridgestone" company.
matsu	松	pine
sugi	杉	cedar
take	竹	bamboo
ki	木	tree	Kinoshita (木下)
ita	板	board
yone	米	rice	Yonekura (米倉) "rice store", the surname of model and celebrity Ryoko Yonekura.
hayashi, bayashi	林	woods	Kobayashi (小林), "small woods", the name of a famous Japanese physicist, Nobel prizewinner in 2008.
ue, kami	上	upper	Murakami (村上), the surname of novelists Haruki Murakami and Ryu Murakami.
shita, shimo	下	lower	Matsushita (松下), "under the pine tree", the common surname and name of the big electronics company.
hashi, bashi	橋	bridge	Hashimoto (橋本), "near the bridge", the surname of the ex-prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
mori	森	forest	Morita (森田) "forest rice field", the surname of Akio Morita, founder of Sony.
tsuka	塚	mound	Tezuka (手塚), "hand mound", the surname of comics artist Osamu Tezuka.
mizu	水	water	Mizutani (水谷), the husband and wife authors of Japanese textbooks.
moto	本, 元	near	Morimoto (森本), "near the forest"
naka	中	in	Nakata (中田), "in the rice field", the surname of the professional footballer
uchi	内	in
yama	山	mountain	Yamamoto (山本) "near the mountain"
oka	丘, 岡	hill	Okada (岡田)
saka	坂	slope	Sakamoto (坂本), the surname of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the musician
no	野	plain	Noguchi (野口), the surname of Hideo Noguchi, the scientist featured on 1,000 yen banknotes.
ike	池	pond	Koike (小池), "small pond", the surname of glamour model and celebrity Eiko Koike.
kawa	川	river	Kawabata (川端), "river edge", the surname of novelist Yasunari Kawabata, who wrote "Snow Country".
tani	谷	valley	Tanizaki (谷崎), "valley edge", the surname of novelist Junichiro Tanizaki.
sawa, zawa	沢 (澤)	creek	Ozawa (小澤), "small creek", the surname of conductor Seiji Ozawa.
numa	沼	marsh
hata	畑	cropfield
ta, da	田	ricefield	Honda (本田), the car manufacturer (named after its founder).
shima, jima	島 (嶋)	island	Matsushima (松島), the surname of Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima, star of "The Ring"
mura	村	village
saki, zaki	埼	cape/edge	Kawasaki (川崎), the company famous for motorcycles

Another common pattern is names containing the character 藤, meaning "wisteria", pronounced either with its kun'yomi of fuji, as in Fujiwara (藤原), the surname of model and actress Norika Fujiwara, or with its on'yomi of tō/dō as in Kondō (近藤) and Satō (佐藤), one of the most common Japanese names.

Personal names

Japanese personal names are usually written in kanji, although some people may have all or part of their name in hiragana or katakana. The kanji used to write personal names are chosen by a variety of methods. Some are purely ateji chosen to match the syllables of the child's name. (See 1.2.6. Why do some gairaigo words have kanji? for more about ateji.)

Female Names

Names ending in e, yo, mi, usually written 美 and ko, written 子, are usually female. For example, a combination of tomo and these endings, as in Tomoe, Tomoyo, Tomomi or Tomoko, produces a typical Japanese female name. Other typical female endings include na and ka. Female names are more likely to be written in hiragana than male names.

Many modern female names end in -ko, which means "child." For example

Aiko, Akiko, Asako, Atsuko, Ayako, Chikako, Emiko, Eriko, Etsuko, Fujiko, Fumiko, Haruko, Ikuko, Junko, Katsuko, Kazuko, Keiko, Kimiko, Kumiko, Kyoko, Machiko, Maiko, Makiko, Mamiko, Mariko, Masako, Mayako, Mayuko, Mayoko, Michiko, Mihoko, Minako, Misako, Mitsuko, Miyoko, Momoko, Mutsuko, Nahoko, Namiko, Nanako, Naoko, Natsuko, Nayoko, Noriko, Reiko, Rieko, Rikako, Rinako, Risako, Ritsuko, Rumiko, Ryoko, Sachiko, Saeko, Sakiko, Sakuko, Sakurako, Sanako, Satoko, Sayoko, Shoko, Seiko, Tadako, Takako, Tamiko, Tokiko, Tomiko, Tomiko, Yoko, Yoshiko, Yukako, Yukiko, Yumako, Yumiko, Yuriko, Yutsuko

Some female names end in -mi, which means "beauty." For example,

Ami, Asami, Emi, Harumi, Honami, Kazumi, Kumi, Manami, Mami, Masami, Masumi, Mayumi, Mutsumi, Nami, Nanami, Naomi, Narumi, Natsumi, Nomi, Remi, Romi, Satomi, Yumi

Here are some other names and what the name (usually) means.

Ai (love), Akane, Aki, Arisa, Ayame (sweet flag flower), Chiaki, Chika, Chisato, Ema, Eri, Fumi, Fumie, Fumiyo, Hatsue, Hatsuyo, Hitomi (eye), Ikue, Isako, Izumi (fountain), Jun (pure), Katsue, Kazue, Machi, Madoka, Mai (dance), Maki, Mari, Maya, Mayu, Mayo, Megumi (charity), Miho, Mina, Mio, Misa, Misato, Miya, Mizuki, Naho, Namie, Namiyo, Nana, Nao, Narumi, Natsumi, Nozomi (hope), Rie, Rina, Risa, Rui, Sachi, Sae, Saki, Sakura (cherry), Saya, Sayuri, Sayo, Shinobu (perseverance), Shiori, Tamiyo, Tokie, Tokiyo, Yayoi (March), Yu, Yui, Yuka, Yukari, Yuki, Yuma, Yuri (lily), Wazuka

Boy's names

Names ending in hiko, such as Katsuhiko (勝彦), suke, such as Keisuke (慶介) or hei, such as Junpei (淳平), are usually male. Male names also often end in o, written in kanji as 夫, 雄or 男, as in Teruo (輝夫) or Akio (昭雄), or shi, as in Atsushi (敦). Male names tend to contain characters such as 勇, meaning "brave", 勝, meaning "win", or 正, meaning "correct".

Boys may be named by a numbering system, with the Chinese character for "one" appearing in the name of the first son, the character for "two" appearing in the second son's name, and so on. Baseball player Ichiro Suzuki (Suzuki Ichirō (鈴木一郎) is named by this system although he is actually a younger brother. Novelist Kenzaburo Oe (Oe Kenzaburō (大江健三郎) is the "third son".

Eichi, Gen-ichi, Jun-ichi, Ju-ichi, Ken-ichi, Koichi, Kyoichi, Ryoichi, Ryuichi, Seiichi, Sen-ichi, Shin-ichi, Shoichi, Shuichi, Shun-ichi, Yoichi, Yu-ichi, Akikazu, Hidekazu, Hirokazu, Masakazu, Nobukazu, Shigekazu, Takakazu, Tomokazu, Toshikazu, Yasukazu, Yoshikazu

Other Japanese male names include

Akihiko, Akihiro, Akihito, Akira, Fumio, Fumihiko, Hideaki, Hidekazu, Hirofumi, Hirohisa, Hiroshi, Hisashi, Hitoshi, Jotaro, Katsuhiko, Katsumi, Kazuhiko, Kazuki, Kazunori, Kazuo, Kazushi, Kei, Ken, Kensaku, Kosaku, Kotaro, Mamoru, Manabu, Masafumi, Masaharu, Masahiko, Masahiro, Masaki, Masami, Masao, Masashi, Masayoshi, Akio, Michihiro, Michio, Naoki, Noboru, Nobuhisa, Nobuo, Nobuyoshi, Noriaki, Norihide, Norihisa, Norio, Osamu, Rintaro, Ryosei, Ryutaro, Satoru, Satoshi, Shigeaki, Shigeki , Shintaro, Sumio, Masayuki, Tadao, Tadashi, Takaaki, Takafumi, Takahiro, Takao, Takashi, Takayuki, Takeshi, Takuya, Taro, Teruo, Tetsuhiko, Tetsunori, Tetsuo, Tetsuya, Tetsuyuki, Tomohiko, Tomoyuki, Toru, Toshiharu, Toshio, Toshiyuki, Tsutomu, Yoshifumi, Yoshimitsu, Yoshiyuki, Yukio, Yutaka

Lucky names

Personal names are often chosen so that the total stroke count of the kanji in the child's name will be a fortuitous number.

Some Japanese personal names, are very difficult even for native speakers to read correctly. For this reason, most forms which require filling in of a name also require furigana (see 1.3.3. What is furigana?). When waiting for a table at restaurants, customers are asked to write their names on a list in kana rather than kanji, and the customers are served in order of arrival. There are some regulations about what kanji may or may not be used in personal names. The jinmeiyō kanji list together with the jōyō kanji list is the basic list of characters which are permitted in names. Registration of some names has been forbidden, for example the famous case of the parents who tried to name their child Akuma (悪魔) meaning "demon".

Names for foreigners are usually written in katakana as are other foreign words. See 5.1. How do I write an English word in Japanese? for the rules of transcription. Chinese and Korean foreigners are usually referred to by their kanji names, often with a Japanese pronunciation.

References

• Albert J. Koop, Hogitaro Inada. Japanese Names and How to Read Them 2005 ISBN 0710311028 Kegan Paul International Ltd.
• P.G. O'Neill. Japanese Names (book) 1972 ISBN 0834802252 Weatherhill Inc.
• Herbert Plutschow. Japan's Name Culture 1995 ISBN 1873410425 Routledge/Curzon
• Solveig Throndardottir. Name Construction in Medieval Japan 2004 ISBN 0939329026 Potboiler Press

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