Japanese Names (with Meanings & Popularity)

As well as Japanese physicist Hideki Yukawa, two Yankees ballplayers, Hideki Irabu and Hideki Matsui, made this name familiar to Americans.

Hanako has a delicate sound and quaint meaning -- but there's a catch. According to widespread urban legend in Japan, Hanako is the name of the ghost of a little girl who haunts school bathrooms, who sometimes answers if you call her name.

Commonly used in Japan, and so much more distinguished than Jen.

Dainty and doll-like.

Pronunciation would not be obvious to Americans.

Popular name in Japan, wouldn't work too well outside that culture.

Simple, Zen-like name of a mythological forest elf.

Iku is an easily assimilated Japanese name.

A traditional possibility for a Japanese or Japanese-American child born in April or May.

The childhood name of the heroine of Memoirs of a Geisha is pretty and accessible. Chiyiko is a pet form.

The surname of the 44th US President has been been adopted as a first, for girls as well as boys, by admiring parents around the world. And the O beginning even makes it fashionable. Though Barack Obama's name derives from the Luo people of Kenya, Obama is also a Japanese place name and a surname that means "little beach."

Well-used in Japan, this name refers to the suzu, a tiny metal bell often placed in a silk charm bag and attached to a girl's undergarment so that a lovely tinkling sound is heard as she moves, and originally thought to frighten demons.

Kazuo is a boys' name well-used in Japan though not well-known in the U.S. Kazuo Ishiguro is the author of Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. The emphasis is on the first syllable.

Kyoto is a Japanese city name not yet on the map for babies, but why not?

Parents searching for a simple, peaceful name may be attracted to this one.

A lovely Japanese alternative to Tamara.

Has good vibes via the stork's intimations of longevity.

Connotes a strong, solid character.

Two similarly delicate names, Tamako and Tamaki, can be found in the Japanese community.