| Sources | Pronunciation guide |
(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: ko-nah–mʸee [kò̞.ná.mʲí]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is derived from 小波 (konami) which refers to wavelets or a ripple on the water (literally meaning “small/little wave”). As a name, 小浪 is also used which have the same meanings for these two kanji. It can also be written with three kanji (as well as こな+mi kanji), as shown in the table below:
| ko (こ) | na (な) | mi (み) |
| 瑚 part of 珊瑚 (sango) “coral” | 菜 “greens” | 美 “beauty” |
| 湖 “lake” | 奈 phonetic kanji | 実 “seed; fruit” |
| 胡 “foreign;” part of 胡桃 (kurumi) “walnut” | 那 phonetic kanji | 海 “sea, ocean” |
| 幸 “good luck, happiness” | 南 “south”* | 未 sign of the Sheep; part of 未来 (mirai) “future” |
| 虹 “rainbow” | 名 “name” | 見 “looking, viewing” |
| 心 “heart, mind” | 凪 “calm, lull” | 巳 sign of the Snake |
| 香 “fragrance” | 和 “calm, gentle” | |
| 恋 “(romantic) love” | ||
| 琴 koto (the 13-stringed Japanese zither) | ||
| 古 “ancient” |
* also used with reading nami as opposed to na combined with a mi kanji
Popularity:
In rare use in the late Edo period (1603-1868) with an average percentage (based on Tsunoda and Collazo) of 0.012%, the name peaked in popularity during the Meiji period (1868-1912) with the average percentage throughout the period at well over 0.1%. Regarding its popularity from the Heisei period (1989-2019) onwards, it hasn’t been as commonly used with percentages ranging from over 0.003% in 2007 to just under 0.02% in the mid-1990s and within the past several years.
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Beyond Sakura and Hiroshi 