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Japanese given names are not reliably identified by sound alone: a reading can have multiple kanji spellings, and the same kanji can be read in different ways. The 30 records below keep romanization, exact kanji, kana reading, and a cautious character-level gloss separate, then show how to store those distinctions in JavaScript.
How to read the name records
Romaji is a Latin-letter rendering; kanji is the exact spelling shown; kana gives its reading. The gloss describes the characters as a reference aid, not the name’s definitive translation, family intention, or verified etymology. A reading may need independent verification.
Entries marked “Benesse 2025 sample” are spellings reported in Benesse’s ranking sample. Other entries are illustrative spellings drawn from the secondary JapaneseNames.org directory and are not independently validated survey examples. Gender labels are included only where the cited Benesse sample identifies the entry within its girls’ or boys’ ranking; they describe the ranking category, not a rule about who may use a name.
| Romaji | Kanji | Kana | Character-level gloss | Ranking evidence / label |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sana | 紗菜 | さな | 紗: thin silk; 菜: greens or plants | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Ema | 咲茉 | えま | 咲: bloom; 茉: jasmine character | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Mio | 澪 | みお | waterway or channel | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Tsumugi | 紬 | つむぎ | pongee silk; also associated with spinning silk thread | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Mei | 芽依 | めい | 芽: bud; 依: rely on or be close to | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Koharu | 心陽 | こはる | 心: heart; 陽: sun or sunlight | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Sui | 翠 | すい | green jade or verdure | Benesse 2025 sample, girls |
| Haruto | 陽翔 | はると | 陽: sun or sunlight; 翔: soar | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Minato | 湊 | みなと | harbor | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Riku | 理玖 | りく | 理: reason or principle; 玖: black jewel | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Aoto | 碧斗 | あおと | 碧: blue-green; 斗: dipper measure / Big Dipper character | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Yuito | 結翔 | ゆいと | 結: bind or join; 翔: soar | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Sora | 蒼空 | そら | 蒼: deep blue; 空: sky | Benesse 2025 sample, boys |
| Akari | 明莉 | あかり | 明: bright; 莉: jasmine character | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Akira | 晶 | あきら | crystal; clear or bright | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Aoi | 碧 | あおい | blue-green jade | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Asahi | 旭 | あさひ | morning sun | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Chihiro | 千尋 | ちひろ | 千: thousand; 尋: fathom / seek | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Chiyo | 千代 | ちよ | 千: thousand; 代: generation or age | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Emi | 咲美 | えみ | 咲: bloom; 美: beauty | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Hana | 華 | はな | flower; splendor | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Hinata | 陽葵 | ひなた | 陽: sun; 葵: hollyhock | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Hinata | 日向 | ひなた | 日: sun or day; 向: face toward | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Kaoru | 薫 | かおる | fragrance; emit fragrance | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Koharu | 小春 | こはる | 小: small; 春: spring | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Momo | 桃 | もも | peach | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Nagisa | 渚 | なぎさ | shore or beach | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Nanami | 七海 | ななみ | 七: seven; 海: sea | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Ren | 蓮 | れん | lotus | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
| Ren | 漣 | れん | ripple | Illustrative directory entry; gender label not established |
The illustrative directory’s glosses are literal character aids; its poetic whole-name renderings should not be treated as established etymology. Benesse’s 2025 sample comprised 166,011 submitted names—83,839 boys and 82,172 girls—for babies born January 1 through September 15, 2025, submitted through Benesse products and services. It is a survey sample, not a census of all births. The rankings show examples, not every possible spelling for a reading. See Benesse’s 2025 girls’ ranking and 2025 boys’ ranking.
#1 Best Overall
Why spelling, reading, and character eligibility are separate
A romanized name is not enough to reconstruct its written form. For example, this list includes two illustrative directory spellings for Hinata and two for Ren, each retained as a separate record. Benesse’s ranking also presents readings alongside example spellings and notes that a character combination may have multiple readings.
Japan’s Ministry of Justice identifies the Jōyō kanji and Jinmeiyō kanji tables as character categories usable for children’s names. That guidance concerns character eligibility; it does not establish that a particular reading is common, natural, or accepted for a proposed name. Check the Ministry’s guidance on kanji usable in children’s names rather than inferring reading approval from the characters alone. Unicode’s Unihan report, version 34 documents character data and readings, not a person’s intended name meaning.
Rank #2
Store the distinctions in JavaScript
Use one object per spelling-reading record. Stable fields preserve the exact written form and avoid merging variants under a romanization. The following compact sample shows the same shape; the full 30-row table above can be transcribed into the same array.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsconst names = [
{
romaji: "Sana",
kanji: "紗菜",
kana: "さな",
gloss: "紗: thin silk; 菜: greens or plants",
genderLabel: "girls ranking",
evidenceType: "Benesse 2025 sample"
},
{
romaji: "Ren",
kanji: "蓮",
kana: "れん",
gloss: "lotus",
genderLabel: null,
evidenceType: "illustrative secondary-directory entry"
},
{
romaji: "Ren",
kanji: "漣",
kana: "れん",
gloss: "ripple",
genderLabel: null,
evidenceType: "illustrative secondary-directory entry"
}
];The gloss is a character-level aid, not a verified naming intention; validate a reading independently when accuracy matters. If the data will be used for a real naming or registration decision, recheck the official character guidance and the proposed reading rather than treating a directory record as approval.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Count visible characters correctly
JavaScript’s String.length counts UTF-16 code units, which is not a universal count of visible characters. For user-perceived grapheme clusters, MDN documents locale-sensitive segmentation with Intl.Segmenter:
const segmenter = new Intl.Segmenter("ja", { granularity: "grapheme" });
const count = [...segmenter.segment(name)].length;Check browser compatibility for your deployment; MDN marked Intl.Segmenter Baseline 2024 when accessed. References: MDN on String.length and Intl.Segmenter.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
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