I know many people are fascinated with their Japanese name equivalent. I also know that many people would also like to have their name written in Kanji. Would you like to know what your name means and how it pronounced in Japanese? The problem is there are too many names for me to translate. What I can do is introduce you to some new and odd Japanese female names, Japanese male names, current popular baby names and very odd and “cute” pet names. So what I have done is come up with a list of some very western sounding Japanese names and “new” names.

Did you know that not all Japanese use kanji for their names? Hiragana often is used for first names, especially for female names. In fact, my wife’s name is written in Hiragana and her surname ( my surname) is written in Katakana. She is Kanji-less. Also her name can be used as Japanese female name or a Japanese male name. Her name is Kaoru!

Children’s Names

When the parents choose kanji for the name of a child, they usually choose from its meaning. For example, “ko (child)” is commonly used for the end of female Japanese names. “Mi” is a another popular choice for Japanese girls names, since it means beauty. However, recently more parents are choosing Japanese names they like the sound of rather than choosing names based on the kanji meaning. Concern is also taken over the number strokes that are used to write the name. When the parents wish to name a child after their relatives, they use one of the kanji characters of the relatives name instead of the name.

Japanese names are confusing. Japanese etiquette is a confusing. Knowing what to call people can drive you nuts in this country. In my father’s house I call my father in law “Father” ( Otosan). The oldest brother of the family is called by his name by his parents, but called “big brother” ( Onichan) by his younger siblings. I don’t even know my wife’s first name. Just joking. However, I know none of the names of her aunts and uncles who regularly visit. This is because all of them are referred to and called “aunt’ (obachan) or “uncle” (ojisan). I find this very frustrating because they will use my name. Another problem is Japanese people will rarely introduce you to other Japanese. You just have get by introducing yourself. This creates another problem because when introducing themselves Japanese will state their full name backwards very fast. It is very hard to catch Japanese names.