concept

Sonoka (そのか)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: so-no-kah [só̞.nò̞.kà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The first element is taken from 園(薗)/苑 (sono) meaning “garden, orchard, park.” It can also be split into two kanji, the second part written as either 乃/之 (no), referring to the possessive particle, or 野 (no) meaning “field.” Most kanji for the first part can be seen in the table below alongside some of the ones used for the second element:

so (そ) ka (か)
素 “plain” 佳 “beautiful, good”
想 “conception, idea, thought” 香/郁/薫/馨 “fragrance”
早 “early” 花/華 “flower”
初 “first, new” 加 “addition”
颯 “sudden, quick” 夏 “summer”
蒼 “blue” 果 “fruit”
奏 “playing music”* 歌 “song”
爽 “fresh”

* also used for the second element

Popularity:
The name started rising in usage in the 1980s, though usage levels at the beginning of the Heisei period (1989-2019) were within the 0.01% range. It rose to over 0.03% in 1994 and 1995, dropping slighty out in 1996 before peaking at around 0.045% in 1997. By 1999, it fell back down below 0.02%, largely remaining within the 0.01% range since then.

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

Sono (その)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: so-no [só̞.nò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is derived from 園(薗)/苑 (sono) meaning “garden, orchard, park.” Nowadays, it is more common to be written with 2 kanji, so kanji used including 想 meaning “conception, idea, thought,” 蒼, generally meaning “blue,” 爽 meaning “fresh,” 奏 meaning “playing music,” 颯 meaning “sudden, quick” or 素 meaning “plain.” As for the second element, it is mainly written as 乃 (no), referring to the possessive particle, but it can also be written as 野 (no) meaning “field.”

Popularity:
By the latter half of the Edo period (1603-1868), usage of Sono, which was mainly written phonetically, had grown to be somewhat common with percentage levels, when combining data from Tsunoda and Collazo, at around 0.55%, placing it within the bottom section of the top 50. Like other names of this type, it began to fall down in popularity in the latter half of the Meiji period (1868-1912), becoming rarely used by the 1930s.
Regarding Heisei period (1989-2019) popularity, it was given to around 0.002-3% of girls throughout much of the 1990s, slowing rising to over 0.005% by 2000 before making a more steep rise to over 0.015% by 2004. Since the late 2000s, percentages remain stable at around the 0.02% mark.

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

Sora (そら)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male, can be female as well
Pronunciation: so-rah [só̞.ɾà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name stems from the word 空 (sora) meaning “sky,” as a name also written as 昊, 宙, 天 and 穹. 大空 and 青空 (also, and more popularly, 蒼空 and 碧空) are also used, normally read as oozora and aozora and meaning “(literally) big sky, heavens, firmament, the blue” and “blue sky” respectively. The first kanji for aozora can also be used as a single kanji.
As far as other 2-kanji combinations go, the single kanji mentioned at the beginning are used as both a first and second element kanji. Other kanji in use for this type of combinations are shown in the table below:

so (そ) ra (ら)
奏 “playing music” 来/來 “arrival”
爽 “fresh” 良 “good”
想 “conception, idea, thought” 咲 “blossom”
颯 “quick, sudden” 楽 “comfort, ease”
壮 “vibrancy, strength, bravery” 桜 “cherry (tree, blossom)”
創 “making, building; start, origin, beginning” 愛 “love, affection”
星 “star”
翔 “fly, soar”
蘭 “orchid”
頼 “request, favour; trust”
礼 “gratitude; manners; gift”
麗 “lovely, beautiful”
大 “large, big”
虎 “tiger”

Image-based kanji combinations are not out of the question for Sora, most of which include:

  • 夏空, the first kanji meaning “summer”
  • 叶空, the first kanji meaning “grant, answer”
  • 希空, the first kanji meaning “rare” or part of 希望 (kibō) meaning “hope, wish, aspiration”
  • 輝空, the first kanji meaning “brightness, brilliance”
  • 幸空, the first kanji meaning “good luck, happiness”
  • 澄空, the first kanji meaning “lucidity, transparency”
  • 星空 – see the table above for 星
  • 美空, the first kanji meaning “beauty”
  • 夢空, the first kanji meaning “dream”
  • 優空, the first kanji meaning “gentle, elegant”

Simply put, the sky really is the limit for this name!

Popularity:
Although in use since at least the early 20th century, the name started to see its first signs of an increase in popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, it was given to just over 0.01% of both boys and girls. By the mid-1990s, the increase gets steeper, the percentages increasing to over 0.08% for boys and over 0.04% for girls by 1996, over 0.3% and over 0.12% by 2000 and over 0.84% and over 0.32% by 2007.
By then, Sora began to maintain its position within the boys’ top 20 and the lower half of the girls’ top 100, though over the past few years, the name flip flops out and back in the boys’ top 20, based on data from Baby Calendar, Tamahiyo and Meiji Yasuda Life.

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

Kotoha (ことは)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: ko-to-hah [kó̞.tò̞.hà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The most popular form of this name is 琴葉, composed of 琴 (koto), referring to the 13-stringed Japanese zither, and 葉 (ha) meaning “leaf.” Other kanji used for this name include:

koto (こと) ha (は)
心 “heart, mind” 羽 “feather”
采 part of 采配 (saihai) “order, command” 花/華 “flower”
詩 “poem” 巴 heraldic comma design
詞 “language; word” 芭 part of 芭蕉 (bashō) “Japanese (fibre) banana”
寿 “congratulations; longevity” 春 “spring”
思 “thought” 遥 “far off, distant”
理 “reason, logic” 波 “wave”
想 “conception, idea, thought”* 晴 “clear, fine”
小 “small” 都 “metropolis” 果 “accomplishment, achievement”
恋 “(romantic) love” 永 “eternity” 映 “shine, glow”
瑚 part of 珊瑚 (sango) “coral” 友 “friend”

* also used as part of a split 1st element

Popularity:
In use since at least the 1980s, the name has seen growth in its popularity in the Heisei period (1989-2019). In 1990, it was given to only over 0.003% of girls, rising gradually to over 0.016% by 1996. The rise steepened in the late 1990s and early 2000s with over 0.15% of girls receiving this name by 2004. The growth slowed down for a while though, according to my preliminary 2014-9 names research and data from Tamahiyo, Meiji Yasuda Life and Baby Calendar, the middle and latter thirds of the 2010s saw Kotoha enter the top 100 for the first time, being used by well over 0.5% of girls over the past few years and ranking within the top 50.

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

Sōta (そうた)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: so:-tah [só̞ò̞.tà]
Variant transliterations: Sota, Souta, Sohta

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The second element of this name is most commonly written as 太 meaning “plump, thick,” with other ta kanji in use including 大 meaning “large, big,” 汰 meaning “wash, scour” and 多 meaning “many, much.” Second element kanji that are used more recently have ta as part of a reading (be it Sino-Japanese, native or name) and they include:

  • 泰 meaning “quiet, peaceful; great, excessive”
  • 空/天 meaning “sky”
  • 詩 meaning “poem”
  • 龍/竜 meaning “dragon”
  • 達 meaning “reach, arrive, attain”
  • 樹 meaning “tree”

As for the first element, any kanji with the reading sō can be used, most of them including:

  • 颯* meaning “sudden, quick”
  • 蒼 meaning “blue”
  • 壮 meaning “vibrancy, strength, bravery”
  • 創 meaning “making, building; start, origin, beginning”
  • 聡 meaning “wise”
  • 奏 meaning “playing music”
  • 爽 meaning “fresh”
  • 想 meaning “conception, idea, thought”
  • 湊 meaning “harbour, port”
  • 草 meaning “grass”
  • 早 meaning “early”
  • 宗 meaning “sect”
  • 綜 meaning “rule, synthesise”
  • 惣/総 meaning “whole, all”
  • 相 meaning “appearance, look”
  • 崇 meaning “respect”

* 楓, meaning “maple,” is also occasionally used for its similarity to 颯

Popularity:
This name was already in use by the Meiji period (1868-1912), though it was very uncommon at the time, becoming very rare before World War II. It would not start increasing again until the 1970s and 1980s.
By 1990, it was given to over 0.07% of boys, gradually increasing to over 0.25% by 1996 before jumping a tad more steeply to over 0.75% by 2000 and over 1.35% by 2004. Around that time, Sōta was already ranking within the top 10. Since the mid-2010s, Sōta is consistently ranked in 2nd place with an average of over 1.5%, well behind the top ranking boy name Haruto.

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

More single kanji with interesting readings

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

This is a continuation to a name list that I’ve posted back in August which explores 10 single-kanji names with readings that I find interesting. Like last time, these five masculine and feminine choices are taken from my preliminary 2014-8 names research.
With that out of the way, let’s jump into the list, starting with:

  1. 想 (Nozomu) – for this first male name on the list, this reading comes from the verb 望む (nozomu) meaning “to desire; to wish for, expect; to see,” perhaps from the way someone wishes for an idea to come true
  2. 旦 (Hinode) – the reading for this next name comes from 日の出 (hinode) meaning “sunrise” with the kanji in question meaning “daybreak, dawn”
  3. 昊 (Oozora) – this next reading comes from 大空 (oozora) which literally means “big sky,” expanded to refer to the heavens, the blue or the firmament
  4. 樹 (Ritsu) – this reading comes from 立 (ritsu) meaning “stand, rise,” the verb 立つ (tatsu) also giving way to such readings as Tatsuki and Tatsuru
  5. 波 (Naru) – for the final male name on this list, this reading seems to be borrowed from Hawaiian nalu meaning “wave, surf” with both nami (the native Japanese reading) and nalu generally sharing the initial syllable
  6. 優 (Kokoro) – this first female name on the list has a reading which comes from 心 (kokoro) meaning “mind, heart, spirit,” intersecting well with the kanji in question, which has the meaning of “gentle, elegant”
  7. 怜 (Toki) – it seems as if this reading comes from 時 (toki) meaning “time” and one may think it is from the way one builds up their intelligence over time – regarding Onjōji Toki (園城寺 怜) from manga and anime ‘Saki’, from what I can tell, it may stem from her being able to predict one turn into the future in mahjong
  8. 晴 (Sayaka) – this next reading comes from the adjective 明/清か (sayaka) meaning “clear, fresh, bright,” referring to the fine weather
  9. 月 (Yue) – for this next female name, it is a Japanese approximation of Mandarin 月 (yuè)
  10. 朋 (Yukari) – this final female name on this list has a reading which comes from 縁 (yukari) meaning “connection, affinity,” seemingly referring to a bond or relationship between friends

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.