Sora (そら)

Sources

Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male, can be female as well
Pronunciation: so-rah [só̞.ɾà]

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Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name stems from the word 空 (sora) meaning “sky,” as a name also written as 昊, 宙, 天 and 穹. 大空 and 青空 (also, and more popularly, 蒼空 and 碧空) are also used, normally read as oozora and aozora and meaning “(literally) big sky, heavens, firmament, the blue” and “blue sky” respectively. The first kanji for aozora can also be used as a single kanji.
As far as other 2-kanji combinations go, the single kanji mentioned at the beginning are used as both a first and second element kanji. Other kanji in use for this type of combinations are shown in the table below:

so (そ)	ra (ら)
奏 “playing music”	来/來 “arrival”
爽 “fresh”	良 “good”
想 “conception, idea, thought”	咲 “blossom”
颯 “quick, sudden”	楽 “comfort, ease”
壮 “vibrancy, strength, bravery”	桜 “cherry (tree, blossom)”
創 “making, building; start, origin, beginning”	愛 “love, affection”
	星 “star”
	翔 “fly, soar”
	蘭 “orchid”
	頼 “request, favour; trust”
	礼 “gratitude; manners; gift”
	麗 “lovely, beautiful”
	大 “large, big”
	虎 “tiger”

Image-based kanji combinations are not out of the question for Sora, most of which include:

• 夏空, the first kanji meaning “summer”
• 叶空, the first kanji meaning “grant, answer”
• 希空, the first kanji meaning “rare” or part of 希望 (kibō) meaning “hope, wish, aspiration”
• 輝空, the first kanji meaning “brightness, brilliance”
• 幸空, the first kanji meaning “good luck, happiness”
• 澄空, the first kanji meaning “lucidity, transparency”
• 星空 – see the table above for 星
• 美空, the first kanji meaning “beauty”
• 夢空, the first kanji meaning “dream”
• 優空, the first kanji meaning “gentle, elegant”

Simply put, the sky really is the limit for this name!

Popularity:
Although in use since at least the early 20th century, the name started to see its first signs of an increase in popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, it was given to just over 0.01% of both boys and girls. By the mid-1990s, the increase gets steeper, the percentages increasing to over 0.08% for boys and over 0.04% for girls by 1996, over 0.3% and over 0.12% by 2000 and over 0.84% and over 0.32% by 2007.
By then, Sora began to maintain its position within the boys’ top 20 and the lower half of the girls’ top 100, though over the past few years, the name flip flops out and back in the boys’ top 20, based on data from Baby Calendar, Tamahiyo and Meiji Yasuda Life.

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