| Sources | Pronunciation guide |
(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: se-rʸee-nah [sé̞.ɾʲì.nà]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
A couple of the most popular forms of this name use 芹 (seri) as the first element, referring to a plant known by various names like the Java water dropwort, water celery and Japanese (flat leaf) parsley. It can also be split into two kanji, most of which can be seen, along with na kanji, in the table below:
| se (せ) | ri (り) | na (な) |
| 瀬 “shallows, rapids” | 里 “village” | 奈 phonetic kanji |
| 世 “generation” | 莉 part of 茉莉 (matsuri) “Arabian jasmine” | 菜 “greens” |
| 聖 “sacred, holy” | 梨 “pear” | 那 phonetic kanji |
| 星 “star” | 利 “advantage, benefit” | 南 “south” |
| 静 “quiet, calm” | 理 “reason, logic” | 名 “name” |
| 清 “clean, pure, chaste” | 璃 part of 瑠璃 (ruri) “lapis lazuli” | 夏 “summer” |
| 成 “growth, reach, attainment” | 李 “Japanese/Chinese plum” | 渚 “beach, shore” |
| 勢 “force, vigour, energy” | 吏 “officer” | 凪 “calm, lull” |
| 青 “blue” | 凛/凜 “cold; dignified” | 七 “seven” |
| 晴 “clear, fine” | 琳 “jewel” | 愛 “beloved” |
| 晟 “clear” | 倫 “ethics” | 波 “wave” |
| 惺 “realise” |
This name may be influenced by foreign names like Celina/Selina and Serena.
Popularity:
Similar to Sonoka, this name started rising in usage in the 1980s. By the start of the Heisei period (1989-2019), it was given to 0.025% of baby girls. When 芹 was selected as a jinmeiyō kanji in March 1990, usage levels continued to rise a bit further, to just over 0.05% in 1992. However, there was a jump in usage in 1993 to over 0.075%, peaking at close to 0.1% in 1997.
Since the peak, usage levels made a general gradual decline with a few occassions of little jumps. By 2009, just under 0.04% of girls received this name, stabilising throughout the 2010s onward.
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Beyond Sakura and Hiroshi 