Mejii Yasuda Life Insurance has just released its 2022 survey of the most popular baby names in Japan, based on the company's data from policy holders as of September 2022. In 2022, the survey consisted of the kanji names of 8,561 girls and 8,952 boys. Some kanji can be pronounced different ways.
This sweet cat is no longer with us. Her name was Monica, which is my favorite cat name.
I'm always interested in what people name their pets. In Japan, the Japanese pet insurance company, Anicom, announces the top names each year. Of the 55,000 cats less than one year of age, they have compiled these listings for cats from the last 12 months.
Overall top ten names
10. Moka (“mocha”): 245 cats
9. Maron (French for “chestnut”): 252 cats
8. Momo (Japanese for “peach”): 260 cats
7. Runa (Luna): 266 cats
6. Kinako (Japanese for “roasted soybean flour”): 289 cats
5. Rin (Japanese for “bell”): 298 cats
4. Koko (“cocoa”): 323 cats
3. Reo (Leo): 327 cats
2. Sora (Japanese for “sky”): 376 cats
1. Mugi (Japanese for “wheat” or “barley”): 479 cats
The top four are the same as last year. The only new name this year is Moka (Mocha).
Top ten names for male cats
10. Ten (Japanese for “dot” or “heavens”): 138 cats
8 [tie]. Reon (Leon): 140 cats
8 [tie]. Fuku (Japanese for “good fortune”): 140 cats
7. Maru (Japanese for “circle,” also a common suffix in Japanese names): 143 cats
6. Kotetsu (Japanese for “small iron,” also a classical masculine given name in Japan): 150 cats
5. Maron: 152 cats
4. Kohaku (Japanese for “amber”): 158 cats
3. Mugi: 269 cats
2. Sora: 287 cats
1. Reo: 319 cats
Leo (Reo) has been the top name for the fifth year in a row. The second and third place names stayed the same as last year, but the fourth place Kohaku, meaning Amber, is new.
Top ten names for female cats
10. Beru (“bell”): 137 cats
9. Moka: 158 cats
8. Hana (Japanese for “flower”): 166 cats
7. Mei (Japanese for “brightness”): 175 cats
6. Kinako: 203 cats
5. Mugi: 210 cats
3 [tie]. Runa (Luna): 233 cats
3 [tie]. Rin: 233 cats
2. Momo: 234 cats
1. Koko: 242 cats
The name Koko moved from last year's third place to first place this year. The only new name in this year's top ten is Beru.
Do you have a favorite cat name?
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.
A survey conducted by the baby goods retail chain Akachan Honpo reported names chosen for 18,199 girls and 18,617 boys born between January 1st and October 20th of this year. I don't know why reading and Kanji have different charts. I think the numbers with the name are last year's rankings.
Respondents were asked what they considered when choosing names. The most common answer was the sound of the name, second was the meaning and the image of the kanji, and third was the number of strokes used to write the name. Many parents count the number of strokes in both the given name and the family name to make sure it does not come out to be an unlucky number. (There are no middle names in Japanese).
I like hiragana names such as Sakura and Akari above. Names seem to go in and out of popularity, maybe based on celebrities or famous people at the time. When I was young, there were many girls with my same first name, but the popularity of it faded out later. I've always liked my name, but I've known of people who shortened theirs or went by a middle name because they weren't fond of the names they were given.
Is your given name popular, or was it when you were given it? Were you named after someone in your family or a famous person? Do you like your name? I'm always curious about names.
According to the annual survey of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company customers, Rin (凛) was the most popular name for baby girls and Ren(蓮) the most popular name for baby boys in 2019. Rin, meaning dignified, last topped the list five years ago, while Ren, which means lotus, was the most popular name for the second straight year.
The second most popular name for girls was Himari (陽葵), followed by Yua (結愛), An (杏) and Tsumugi (紬). For boys, Haruto (陽翔) and Arata (新) tied for the second most popular name, followed by Minato (湊), Aoi (蒼) and Ritsu (律).
Meiji Yasuda said it surveyed 8,407 customers who had daughters this year and 8,455 who had sons.
The Meiji Yasuda Insurance Company surveyed 6.55 million customers. The top results showed 1,940,000 individuals in Japan have the surname Sato, 1,820,000 have the name Suzuki, 1,430,000 have the name Takahashi, 1,330,000 the name Tanaka, and in fifth place, 1,190,000 have the name Watanabe. The last time this survey was conducted was in 2013, with the top three most common names being the same as this year's survey.
I have several sets of students with the same family names. I never call my students by their first names, so I distinguish them by the departments they work in.
According the the 2010 US Census the top five surnames in the United States were Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and Jones. Both my first name and my last name are common in the US, with my first name, Pamela, ranking 37th, according to Mongabaydotcom.
Is your name common or rare? Does this ever cause problems for you?
