A short guide to Japanese names

The terms you see on each name page, and how Japanese names are put together.

Name order

In Japanese the family name comes first: 佐藤陽葵 is Satō Himari. On a house nameplate (表札, hyōsatsu) it is written top to bottom, which is how names appear on this site.

Hiragana ひらがな

A syllabary of 46 basic characters. Each one is a sound, not a meaning. It is used for grammar, native words, and to show how kanji are read — small hiragana printed above kanji is called furigana.

Katakana カタカナ

The second syllabary, with the same sounds as hiragana but angular shapes. It is used for foreign words and names, which is why the name converter gives your name in katakana first.

Kanji 漢字

Characters that carry meaning. Most Japanese given names can be written several ways: Haruto might be 陽翔 (sun + soar) or 悠斗 (calm + dipper). Only kanji from an official list may be used in names registered in Japan.

Morae 拍

A mora is one beat of Japanese rhythm. あ is one, きょう (kyō) is two because the long vowel counts, and ん counts on its own. Most given names have two to four morae.

English syllables

The beats you hear in an English word: cat has one, ba-by two, beau-ti-ful three. The converter shows them so you can compare how a name breaks up in each language.

Romaji

Japanese written in the Latin alphabet. Name pages use Hepburn romanization. Long vowels are often dropped in everyday spelling, so ゆうき may appear as Yuki, Yuuki or Yūki.

Nicknames, -chan and -kun

Japanese nicknames usually shorten a name and add a suffix. ちゃん (-chan) is affectionate and common for girls and small children; くん (-kun) is used mostly for boys and younger men. A long vowel can be added for a softer sound, as in はーちゃん. These are for friends and family, never formal settings.

Surnames

Most surnames became widespread in the late 1800s, when every family was required to register one. Many describe a landscape — 山田 Yamada, “mountain rice field”, or 橋本 Hashimoto, “at the foot of the bridge”. The popularity bands on this site are approximate.