Sunday, November 21, 2021

Top Baby Names in Japan 2021

I always think the most popular baby names of the year are interesting, even though I'm not familiar with the names and I can't read the kanji. The rankings are based on the names of 211,000 babies born in Japan between January 1 and September 28, 2021 using information gathered by Benesse, a brand focused on pregnancy, childbirth and childcare. This year names with only one character are popular, with five girls' names and seven boys' names having just one character.





2020 rankings are in parentheses.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The popular names of the last few years feel like the appear in Japanese drama,anime and games. I'm not bad at Kanji,but there are many names that make me think“I don't know how to read”.
Normally, you can guess the name by thinking about how to read the Kanji, but some children have names that can't be associate Kanji.
I haven't rankedin, but is seem that the“kirakira-name”is still alive. It seems that one-character Kanji is popular.
I wish the babies happiness.

Jeanie said...

I always find lists like this fun!

Queeniepatch said...

In the past it was often the (paternal) grandfather who gave names to the grandchildren, so they were a bit old fashioned, or at least traditional.
Now the parents usually name their children, and I think Toki is right - they seem to get inspiration from pop culture (the characters in manga, anime and games). For us foreigners some names are odd or strange, like Cocoa and Mocca. We don't think of the kanji meaning, just the sound so can't help laughing or swearing.

Leonore Winterer said...

I think I'd prefer a one-character name if I was Japanese. Kanji are hard enough to write as-is!