Sources | Pronunciation guide |
(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: ko-yuu–kʸee [kò̞.jɯ̟́ᵝ.kʲí]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is most commonly written as 小雪 which refers to light snowfall (individually meaning “small” and “snow”). 幸/倖, meaning “good luck, happiness,” can also be used for the second and (rarely) first elements and it can also be split into two kanji in the second element, as shown in the table below which also lists out other ko kanji:
ko (こ) | yu (ゆ) | ki (き) |
瑚 part of 珊瑚 (sango) “coral” | 由 “reason, cause” | 季 “season” |
心 “heart, mind” | 有 “existence” | 希 “rare;” part of 希望 (kibō) “hope, wish, aspiration” |
湖 “lake” | 優 “gentle, elegant; excellence, superiority” | 紀 “account, chronicle” |
恋 “(romantic) love” | 夢 “dream” | 姫 “princess” |
来/來 “coming” | 佑 “help” | 妃 “empress, queen” |
呼 “call; breath” | 友 “friend” | 輝 “brightness, brilliance” |
琴 koto (the 13-stringed Japanese zither) | 結 “tie, bond” | 樹 “tree” |
紅 “crimson” | 柚 “yuzu fruit” | 葵 “hollyhock; wild ginger;” part of 向日葵 (himawari) “sunflower” |
胡 “foreign;” part of 胡桃 (kurumi) “walnut” | 夕 “evening” | |
木 see 樹 | ||
鼓 “drum, beat” |
Popularity:
Names beginning in Ko (小)-, which Collazo classify as diminutives, were used in the Edo period (1603-1868) though rather rare at just around 1% of all names when combining data from Collazo and Tsunoda. Koyuki is found once in Tsunoda, making it very uncommon to rare compared to Yuki. Usage increased in the first half of the Meiji period (1868-1912) with percentages close to 0.2%, dropping to less than 0.1% in the second half before becoming rare by the 1930s.
By the start of the Heisei period (1989-2019), it was given to just over 0.01% of girls, remaining around that level until 1993 when it jumped to over 0.03% and then over 0.04% the following year. This jump in usage is attributed to the television drama ‘Hitotsu Yane no Shita’ which featured a main character going by this name (Masaya (雅也) is another notable character name that rose in usage as well).
Usage for Koyuki would remain within the 0.03-4% range for the rest of the 1990s before jumping to around 0.06% in 2000 and peaking to over 0.125% in 2004. In this case, this rise in usage is influenced by actress Koyuki, best known outside Japan for her role as Taka in the film ‘The Last Samurai’.
Since the 2004 peak, the name fell a bit in usage. By 2009, around 0.06% of girls received this name. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my 2014-20 names research, the average percentage from 2017-20 is over 0.04%.
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