| Sources | Pronunciation guide |
(Main) gender: Male, can be female as well
Pronunciation: sah-kuu-yah [sá.kɯ̟̀ᵝ.jà]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
One particular form of this name is 咲耶, the first kanji meaning “to bloom.” This is part of the name of the blossom princess and goddess of Mount Fuji, Konohana(no)sakuya-hime (木花咲耶姫), also known in the shortened form Sakuya-hime (咲耶姫).
Regarding other combinations, any kanji with the reading saku can substitute 咲, such as 朔, referring to the new moon or the first day of the lunar month, 桜/櫻 meaning “cherry (tree, blossom),” 策 meaning “plan, policy, measure” or 作 meaning “work, production.” As for the second kanji, below are most of the other ones used:
- 弥/彌 meaning “increase”
- 也, a phonetic kanji but can refer to the archaic auxiliary verb なり (nari) meaning “to be”*
- 哉, a phonetic kanji*
- 夜 meaning “night”
- 矢 meaning “arrow”*
- 椰 meaning “(coconut) palm”
- 野 meaning “field”
- 優 meaning “gentle, elegant”
- 陽 meaning “day; sun”
- 柳 meaning “willow”
* more often used on boys
Popularity:
Though it has been used since the Meiji period (1868-1912), much of its usage is concentrated on those born in the Heisei period (1989-2019) onwards, particularly since the turn of the 21st century.
In 1990, it was given to no more than 0.003% of both boys and girls, rising to over 0.04% for the boys and over 0.01% for the girls by 2000 and over 0.095% and over 0.015% by 2007 respectively. According to my preliminary 2014-8 names research, over 0.16% of boys and over 0.03% of girls received this name in that period.
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Beyond Sakura and Hiroshi 