Japanese Names (with Meanings & Popularity)
Updated Sun Sep 29 2024
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Japanese baby names are rarely used in the English-speaking world, as English names are rarely used in Japan. In other Asian countries, people often take on English names to ease pronunciation and spelling confusion when going to school or working internationally, but Japanese names are spelled and pronounced in a way that translates across tongues.
Japanese names in the US Top 1000 for girls include Amaya, Kairi, Reina, Sara, and Tori. For boys, Japanese names in the US Top 1000 include Asa, Kane, Kai, Raiden, and Ren. In Japan, popular names include Sakura, Yuna, Haruki, and Riku.
Not many Americans or British are able to speak Japanese, making for less fluid travel of names between cultures. Japanese baby names that work best in the West are those that are familiar via celebrities, pop culture, or similarity to more familiar Western names such as Hana, Kai, or Zen.
There are many other lovely Japanese names for girls or boys worth browsing here is you’re looking for an unusual international name for your baby son or daughter.
Our full roster of Japanese baby names follows, ordered by their current popularity on Nameberry.
RELATED:
- Asa
Origin:
Hebrew; JapaneseMeaning:
"healer; born in the morning"Description:
A short but strong biblical name with multicultural appeal, Asa is enjoying new visibility thanks to hot young actor Asa Butterfield of Hugo fame.
- Ren
Origin:
Japanese, LatinMeaning:
"water lily, lotus, romantic love, move forward; reborn"Description:
A very popular unisex name in Japan, Ren is a concise and versatile choice that could work across multiple languages. A rising star in England and Wales where it ranks in the Top 1000, it is also on the rise in the US where it was give to nearly 90 girls and 200 boys in a recent year.
- Amaya
Origin:
Spanish version of Amaia or JapaneseMeaning:
"mother city; the end; night rain"Description:
The Spanish form of Amaya is both a given name and a surname, originating from the Spanish mountain and village of Amaya. In this context it means "mother city" or "the capital." Amaya can also be considered a derivation of Amaia, a Basque name meaning "the end." In Japan, Amaya is a surname.
- Koda
Origin:
Japanese, SiouxMeaning:
"friend"Description:
A word in the Yankton-Yanktonai and Santee dialects of the Lakota Sioux language, meaning "friend" or "ally", used for one of the main characters in the movie Brother Bear. Also a common Japanese surname or a respelling of the musical name Coda.
- Kyomi
Origin:
Japanese "pure and beautiful"Meaning:
"pure and beautiful"Description:
In Japanese this name may be written with the characters for "pure; purify; cleanse" (Kiyo/Keo) and "beauty; beautiful" (mi). Like most Japanese names, this is a name that translates well into Anglophone countries, where sweet short names are becoming increasingly popular.
- Mika
Origin:
Japanese, Slovene, Hebrew, English, GreekMeaning:
"beautiful fragrance; who is like God?; follower of Demeter"Description:
Mika is a sparky and stylish Japanese girls' name that translates easily to English. Also used as a Slovene and Hebrew diminutive for Mihaela and Michaela, as an alternative spelling to the Biblical Micah, and as a Greek diminutive of Dimitra (via Mimika), it is a truly multi-cultural choice.
- Kane
Origin:
CelticMeaning:
"warrior"Description:
A name of multiple identities: a somewhat soap-operatic single-syllable surname, a homonym for the biblical bad boy Cain, and, when found in Japan and Hawaii, it transforms into the two syllable KA-neh. Kane also has multiple meanings: in Welsh, it's "beautiful"; in Japanese, "golden"; and in Hawaiian, "man of the Eastern sky."
- Rumi
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"beauty, flow, lapis lazuli"Description:
Rumi is a Japanese girls' name that sounds like a couple of other choices more familiar in the West -- Rumer and Remi -- that is achieving notice because of its choice by two celebrities, including Beyonce and Jay-Z.
- Nara
Origin:
Japanese place name or CelticMeaning:
"happy"Description:
Soft, simple, and far more unusual than Tara or Farrah. As a Japanese place name, it's been used occasionally as a surname and is beginning to be used as a first. Nara is also the name of a Hindu (male) God and the name means "man" in Hindi.
- Suki
Origin:
Japanese or EnglishMeaning:
"loved one; lily"Description:
As a Japanese name, Suki has the sweet meaning "loved one". It's also an English diminutive of Susanna, making it a creative and modern way to honor a Susan in your life.
- Nori
Origin:
Japanese, English short form or Eleanor, Leonora, Nora, Honora, or North, form of Nor or Nuri, Arabic, TurkishMeaning:
"ceremonial rites, doctrine, seaweed; unknown, honor, north; my light"Description:
Nori is one of those names with several origins that would have no trouble assimilating into a variety of cultures. It might also be associated with the dried seaweed used to wrap sushi or with the nickname Kim Kardashian and Kanye West use for their daughter North.
- Rio
Origin:
Spanish, Portuguese, JapaneseMeaning:
"river or place of the cherry blossoms"Description:
Rio is one of Japan's most popular girls' names, constantly sitting in that country's Top 10. Of course, Rio may also stem from the Portuguese and Spanish word for river, and the Brazilian city Rio de Janeiro. A truly international name for a cosmopolitan baby!
- Kenzo
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"strong and healthy"Description:
Kenzo is a common Japanese name with several creative bearers: the single-named fashion designer, prizewinning architect Kenzo Takada, and painter Kenzo Okada, which makes it internationally recognizable.
- Kai
Origin:
HawaiianMeaning:
"sea"Description:
This appealing multi-cultural name, pronounced KYE, is beginning to be used for girls as well as boys. Among its many derivations and meanings: "sea" in Hawaiian, "forgiveness" in Japanese, "willow tree" in Navajo, "food" in Maori, and "earth" in Scandinavian. For girls, it debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2010.
- Zen
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"meditation"Description:
A spiritual word name used by actor Zoe Saldana for her son as well as more recently Nick Cannon and Alyssa Scott for their late son. Zen has been trending in recent years along with other spiritual names such as Bodhi and Zion, and recently entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2022.
- Kenji
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"second son; healthy + second; wise + second; modest second"Description:
A international feeling name of Japanese origin that could be used to refer to a child's place in the family, Kenji has attracted notice in the US as the name of The Food Lab chef, James Kenji López-Alt, know simply as Kenji. It appeared in the latter end of the US Top 1000 in 2023.
- Hana
Origin:
Hebrew, Hawaiian, Maori, JapaneseMeaning:
"grace, work, glow, flower"Description:
Many things to many peoples: a flower name, also spelled Hanae, to the Japanese; a Czech and Polish short form of Johana; and an alternate form of the biblical name Hannah in the US. It also means "craft, work" in Hawaiian and "glow" in Maori.
- Kairi
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"sea"Description:
Kairi is the name of the main female character in the popular role-playing video game series, Kingdom Hearts. Voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the main series, Kairi is one of the seven Princesses of the Heart. Kairi entered the US Top 1000 in 2010 and was given to over 400 baby girls in one recent year.
- Tori
Origin:
Diminutive of Victoria, English, JapaneseMeaning:
"victory; bird"Description:
A more modern nickname for Victoria than Vicky, Tori is used fairly frequently on its own, kept in the public eye by singer Tori Amos and actress Tori Spelling. Still, it's far from fashionable, sinking in the polls significantly since reaching a peak of Number 142 in 1994. It dropped out of the US popularity charts in 2021, and even earlier in the UK, perhaps owing to the sound-alike political party nickname.
- Ren
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"water lily, lotus"Description:
In Japan the lotus is the Buddhist symbol of purity and perfection. In the US, Ren can also be short for Lauren or Renee, but it could be misspelt as the more popular Wren.