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Maasa (まあさ)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: mah-ah-sah [má.à.sà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is most commonly written as 真麻, individually meaning “pure, true” (also written as 眞) and “hemp, flax.” As a word, it is used, with the reading mao, as an alternative form of 苧 (karamushi) referring to the ramie plant and, with the reading maso, a euphemism for 麻.
The second element can be substituted for 朝 (asa) meaning “morning” or it can be split into two kanji, an a kanji, like 亜 or 愛 meaning “love, affection,” combined with a sa kanji, such as 沙 meaning “sand” or 紗 meaning “gauze.” As for the first element, it can be replaced with 麻 (not to be used twice), 茉, part of 茉莉 (matsuri) referring to the Arabian jasmine, or 万 meaning “ten thousand,” among other ma kanji.

Popularity:
This name is mostly used among those born since the 1980s, first brought to wider attention by the birth of the daughter of actor Takahashi Hideki in late 1981. By 1990, over 0.02% of girls received this name, dropping down below 0.01% by 1996. It rebounded a bit above it in the early-mid 2000s before jumping over 0.02% again in 2007.
Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my own 2014-20 names research, percentages fell below 0.01% again in the mid 2010s and the average percentage from 2017-20 is below 0.005%.

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Maiko (まいこ)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: mah-ee-ko [má.ì.kò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The most commonly used form of this name is 舞子, made up of 舞 (mai) meaning “dance” and 子 (ko) meaning “child.” The name coincides with the term for an apprentice geisha, though the word is written in kanji as 舞妓. Kanji in use for the 2-kanji first element of this name include:

ma (ま) i (い)
麻 “hemp, flax” 衣 “clothing”
真 “pure, true” 依 “reliance, dependence”
茉 part of 茉莉 (matsuri) “Arabian jasmine” 以 phonetic kanji
万 “ten thousand” 唯/惟 “only”
磨/摩 “polish, shine” 伊 phonetic kanji
満 “full, whole” 井 phonetic kanji
雅 “refinement, elegance”

Popularity:
Maiko started to be used among the general population in the 1900s amidst an explosion of -ko names, though it was uncommonly used until the 1970s when it started to rise in popularity. In that decade, over 0.3% of girls were given this name, peaking in the 1980s with the percentage of over 0.8%.
By 1990, it was already past its peak with around 0.307% of girls receiving this name, rising slightly to around 0.377% in 1992 before dropping out of the top 100 by 1994 with around 0.204% of girls being given this name in that year. By 2009, the percentage fell to less than 0.03%, remaining this way ever since.

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Yorozu (よろず)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: yo-ro–zuu~yo-ro-zuu [jò̞.ɾó̞.zɨ́ᵝ]~[jó̞.ɾò̞.zɨ̀ᵝ]
Variant writing: よろづ

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name stems from the numeral for ten thousand, written as 万 or as its old variant 萬.

Popularity:
Though it is very rarely used right now, before World War 2, it did see a bit of usage, especially before the 20th century. Though passenger list numbers are low, when counting other records from FamilySearch which total to around 38 (13 born in the US), the majority of males named Yoruzu were born in the first half of the Meiji period (1868-1912). Telephone book data has just over a thousand men with 万 or 萬 as their name, however when calculating against other readings, the number of Yorozus would certainly be under 500, placing the percentage at 0.001% or less.

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