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Seiya (せいや)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: se:-yah [sé̞è̞.jà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
Here are most of the kanji used for this name:

sei (せい) ya (や)
聖 “sacred, holy” 也 phonetic kanji*
誠 “truth, reality” 矢 “arrow”
星 “star” 弥/彌 “increase”
晟 “clear” 哉 phonetic kanji
征 “conquest” 耶 phonetic kanji
晴 “clear, fine” 夜 “night”
成 “growth, reach, attainment” 椰 “(coconut) palm”
清 “clean, pure, chaste” 八 “eight”
誓 “oath, vow” 野 “field”
靖 “quiet, peaceful” 空 “space, room”
政 “rule, government”
惺 “realise”
青 “blue”
世 “generation”
勢 “force, vigour, energy”
正 “exact, precise”
盛 “prosperous”
静/靜 “quiet, calm”
生 “life, living”
斉 “equal”

* can refer to archaic auxiliary verb なり (nari) meaning “to be”

There are 6 combinations I’ve found that also act as literary words with all bar one of the 6 containing 夜. They include:

  • 静夜, referring to a quiet night
  • 聖夜, literally meaning “holy night,” but can refer to Christmas Eve
  • 晴夜, referring to a clear night
  • 星夜, referring to a starry night
  • 清夜, referring to a cool and refreshing night
  • 征野, referring to a battlefield/ground

Popularity:
Used since at least the Meiji period (1868-1912), Seiya was uncommonly used until the 1980s when it began rising in popularity. It is likely that the manga and anime series ‘Saint Seiya’ was behing this rise in popularity. It seems that when the anime was cancelled in 1989 and the manga stopped being serialised in 1990, the name had fallen a bit in popularity with over 0.25% of boys receiving this name in 1990 compared to around 0.28% the year before.
However, for reasons I could not find, the name began rising in popularity again in 1992, peaking at over 0.5% by 1996, before falling back outside the top 100 by 2007 with around 0.21% of boys being given this name in that year. According to my preliminary 2014-8 names research, over 0.12% of boys received this name in that period.

If you would like to add in your thoughts about this name, please share them in the comments below.

Akari (あかり)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

This name post was originally published on July 2, 2018 but has now been reclassified as a mainly feminine name with some current male usage and replaced by Otoha.

(Main) gender: Female, can be male as well
Pronunciation: ah-kah–rʸee [à.ká.ɾʲí]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The name is ultimately derived from the continuative form of the verb 明る (akaru) meaning “to become bright/clear,” in turn giving way to the word generally meaning “light” or “lamp” (written as 明かり, 灯 or 燈). Nowadays, as a feminine name, it is mainly written phonetically.
Other single kanji which are cognate or otherwise bearing resemblance to the word include:

  • 朱 meaning “vermilion”
  • 陽 meaning “sun”
  • 星 meaning “star”
  • 光 meaning “light; ray, beam, glow”
  • 彩 meaning “colour”
  • 輝 meaning “brightness, brilliance”
  • 月 meaning “moon”

They can also be part of a combination of multiple kanji, as seen below:

a (あ) ka (か) ri (り)
紅 “crimson” 里 “village”
茜 “Japanese madder” 莉 part of 茉莉 (matsuri) “Arabian jasmine”
珠 “ball, sphere; gem, jewel” 梨 “pear”
丹 “red earth, vermilion” 理 “reason, logic”
暁 “dawn, daybreak” 李 “Japanese/Chinese plum”
愛 “love, affection” 璃 part of 瑠璃 (ruri) “lapis lazuli”
あか (phonetic) 利 “advantage, benefit”
亜 phonetic kanji 香 “fragrance” 俐 “clever”
安 “quiet, peaceful” 加 “addition” 吏 “officer”
杏 “apricot” 花/華 “flower” 浬 “nautical mile”
有 “existing” 佳 “beautiful, good” 哩 “mile”
晏 “calm, tranquil” 日 “day” 栞 “bookmark”
果 “fruit” 凛/凜 “cold; dignified”
可 “acceptable, fair” 琳 “jewel”

As a side note, the combination 朱織 can be used with the second kanji, meaning “weave, fabric,” not being used before other kanji seen above.

Popularity:
Although it had been seen some (very rare) usage for both genders in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name didn’t start to experience a rise in popularity (mostly as a feminine name) until the 1970s and 1980s.
In 1990, it was given to over 0.25% for girls, which placed it just outside the top 100, though it would break the ceiling the next year and, by 2000, was given to over 0.61% of girls. Though it did drop a little bit over the next several years, by 2009, it started rising again with over 0.67% of girls being given this name in that year. Based on aggregate data from various external surveys along with my 2014-20 names research, Akari briefly ranked at the top in 2018 before being overtaken by Mei the following year. By 2021, it stands in the bottom section of the top 10.
The name also saw some increase in usage for boys as well (燈 is the preferred form for that gender) where overall usage is otherwise rare with over 0.05% of boys receiving this name from 2014 to 2018 according to my preliminary research on names from that time period Compared to its usage on girls however, it seems a bit minuscule, though only time will tell if male usage will continue to increase.

If you would like to add in your thoughts about this name, please share them in the comments below.

Seven names with the number 7

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

It’s been a long while since I last posted a list of names on my main blog, so I thought to myself while I took a break from posting here – why not bring it back on BSAH? It has been exactly one year since I started posting names on this blog, so now is the perfect time to add this feature.
For the first Japanese list post, let’s start it off with something easy – seven Japanese names which have the kanji for the number seven, 七 (it is July, after all).

  1. 七海 (Nanami, female) – starting off the list is a name that’s been featured here not too long ago, specifically the form which you see here. The second kanji means “sea, ocean” and adding it together with 七 makes for a travel-inspired name.
  2. 七星 (Nanase, unisex) – from travelling the world to gazing the night sky, this second kanji means “star.” 7 stars may not sound like much in the grand scheme of things, but still, the writing combined with the sound makes for a cool astronomical name for a male or female.
  3. 七月 (Natsuki, unisex) – as this second kanji refers to the moon or, in certain contexts, a month, this combination refers to a 7th month. Nowadays, it refers to the month of July, so this is one particular name to bestow to a July person.
  4. 七夏 (Nanaka, female) – not too keen on 七月? How about replacing the second kanji with one that means “summer” and changing up the sound? In fairness, the combined meaning of “seven summers” conjures up a different image, but as July is a summer month, it still is a name worth bestowing to a July person.
  5. 七虹 (Nanako, female) – this second kanji means “rainbow” and, as you can tell, it refers to the seven colours of the rainbow. It’s a bit of a fresh take on a name that belongs to one of the “newer” -ko names which have 2 preceding moras.
  6. 七色 (Nanairo, female) – this next addition to the list is a more obvious alternative to the previous one, the second kanji meaning “colour.” There aren’t many female names containing 4 or more moras so, naturally, this name is a rarity.
  7. 七音 (Naoto, male) – finishing off this list is the only male name that I can manage to add here, the second kanji for this name meaning “sound.” It’s a nice, musical touch to a name that is otherwise falling in popularity in recent years.

What do you think? If you would like to add in your thoughts or other suggestions for this list, please share them in the comments below.

Sena (せな)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female, can be male as well
Pronunciation: se-nah [sé̞.nà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The table below lists out most of the possible combinations with this name:

se (せ) na (な)
聖 “sacred, holy” 那 phonetic kanji
星 “star” 奈 phonetic kanji
世 “generation” 菜 “greens”
瀬 “shallows, rapids” 南 “south”
成 “growth, reach, attainment” 七 “seven”
惺 “realise” 凪 “calm, lull”
汐 “tide, current” 名 “name”
誠 “truth, reality” 夏 “summer”
政 “rule” 奏 “playing music”
晟 “clear”

Regarding the second element, for males, 那 is most often used (though it can be used for females as well), while for females, 奈 and 菜 are the most often used kanji.

Popularity:
The earliest example that I can find is that of Tsukiyama-dono (築山殿), who was called Sena-hime (瀬名姫) before her marriage to Tokugawa Ieyasu, though it appears Sena is not her real name, which is unknown. Disregarding this one example, the name wasn’t in use until around the mid-20th century.
Regarding current popularity, the name was rising for girls at the start of the Heisei period (1989-2019), reaching to around 0.09% by 1992. Since the mid 1990s, it is given to more than 0.1% of girls, though according to Baby Calendar data, the name, as a whole was given to 0.3% of girls in 2017, putting it in their top 100.
For boys, it was given to less than 0.01% until 1996 when it jumped to around 0.02%. By the end of the 2000s, it was given to around 0.08% of all boys.

If you would like to add in your thoughts about this name, please share them in the comments below.