Tag Archives: Japanese Names

Riku

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In Finnish and Estonian, this is a form of Richard. It was among the top 100 most popular boys’ names in Finland in 2004, ranking in at #48. The designated name-day is February 7th in both countries.

It is also a Japanese male name (very rarely female), and can have various meanings depending on the Kanji but the most popular is 陸 (Riku), “land, shore, continent.”

Riku is a familiar character name in anime, manga, and games — for example, in Kingdom Hearts, where Riku is a central figure.

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Hanasa

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Photo by Guilherme Rossi on Pexels.com
  • Origin: Japanese
  • Kanji: 花咲
  • Katakana: ハナサ
  • Most common meaning: “flower blossom.”
  • Gender: feminine
  • Pron: HAH-nah-SAH

The name is composed of the Kanji 花 (flower) and 咲 (bloom, blossom, flourish). Other Kanji combinations are possible with different meanings.

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Amiri

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Photo by Raydar on Pexels.com
  • Origin: Japanese
  • Meaning: various
  • Gender: feminine
  • Pronunciation: AH-mee-ree
  • あみり(Japanese Hiragana)

The name is a Japanese female name which can have several different meaning depending on the Kanji used. The following Kanji combinations include:

  • 愛 (to love, to adore); 実 (fruit; reality; truth); 理 (principle, logic, reason).
  • 愛 (to love, to adore); 実 (fruit; reality; truth); 璃 (glass, crystal, gemstone)
  • 愛 (to love, to adore); 実 (fruit; reality; truth); 里 (village, hometown, birthplace)
  • 愛 (to love, to adore); 美 (beautiful); 璃 (glass, crystal, gemstone)
  • 愛 (to love, to adore); 美 (beautiful); 里 (village, hometown, birthplace)
  • 亜 (sub; inferior; Asia); 実 (fruit; reality; truth); 里 (village, hometown, birthplace)
  • 亜 (sub; inferior; Asia); ‘心’ (heart; feeling; center); 里 (village, hometown, birthplace)
  • 亜 (sub; inferior; Asia); 未 (not yet, un, none); 莉 (jasmine, pear tree).

Other Kanji are possible.

It is also a Persian surname, meaning “of Amir.” It is the name of a American fashion designer, Mark Amiri, who founded the fashion house AMIRI. The latter may be the reason why this name suddenly appeared in the U.S. Top 1000. It has appeared in both the male and female charts, coming in at #521 for males and #876 in 2022.

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Kimia, Kimiya

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  • Origin: Persian کیمیا
  • Meaning: “alchemy; rare; unique; elixir.”
  • Gender: feminine
  • Pronunciation: KEEM-yaw

The name comes directly from the Farsi word کیمیا (kimia), which originally had a connotation of something rare or unique but later came to form the base word and concept of alchemy. It appears in Persian literature, starting in the 10th-century (CE).

Another spelling is Kimya.

Among the Persian diaspora in Western countries, the name is often shortened to Kim.

Alternately, Kimiya can also be a Japanese male name that changes meaning, depending on the kanji used.

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Akiko

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BN22649_58Gender: Feminine
Origin: Japanese
Meaning: “bright child; sparkle child; autumn child.”
(AH-kee-ko)

The name can have several different meaning depending on the characters chosen to spell the name. It could be from the Japanese 晶 (aki) meaning “sparkle”, or from the Japanese 明 (aki) meaning “bright” or from the Japanese 秋 (aki) meaning “autumn”  plus combined with子 (ko) “child”. There is an American comic book series of the same name which follows the adventures of a Japanese American girl named Akiko on the planet Smoo

Naoki

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Gender: masculine
Origin: Japanese
Meaning: “straight tree; honest tree.”

The name comes from the Japanese 直 (nao) meaning “honest, straight” and 樹 (ki) meaning “tree”. The name is borne by Naoki Maeda (b.1979), a Japanese music producer and composer who works for Konami and Naoki Urasawa (b.1960) a Japanese mangaka artist.

Fuka

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Red Maple (Acer rubrum) Flower2Gender: Feminine
Origin: Japanese
Meaning: “wind flower; maple tree flower.”

The name can either be made up of the Japanese characters (characters coming soon) fu meaning wind and ka meaning flower or fu meaning “maple tree” and ka meaning “flower.”

Mitsuaki

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bright-autumn_streetGender: Masculine
Origin: Japanese
Meaning: “bright fruit; shining autumn.”

The name has different meaning depending on the character used, which for this particular name, I will provide in the near future. In Japanese, selection of different characters are instrumental in defining a name. One name can mean a variety of different things depending on the way you write it. Japanese names are extremely complex. In this case, Mitsuaki, a fairly prevalent Japanese male name, can either be composed of the Japanese elements mitsu meaning “fruit or truth” or the honomym mitsu meaning : “shine; light.”  Aki is another element that can mean a few things, it can either mean “autumn” or “bright, light”.

The name is borne by Mitsuaki Hoshino (b. 1959) a Japanese actor and Mitsuaki Madono (b.1964) a Japanese voice actor.