(Main) gender: Female, can be male as well
Pronunciation: sah-tskʸee [sà.tsɨ̥́ᵝ.kʲí]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is derived from 五月/皐月 (satsuki) (皐 is also used for this name), which archaically referred to the the fifth month of the lunar calendar but is now used in poetic contexts to refer to the month of May. It also refers to a type of azalea known as Rhododendron indicum, so named because of the timing of its usual blooming. As explained on Wiktionary, some sources derive the word from a possible contraction of the synonym 早苗月 (sanaedzuki). Some others however point to an ancient word さ (sa) as the first element, relating to rice and used in many ancient terms relating to the rice plant.
As for other ways to write this name, there are two pathways which relate to gender proportion. The first one is mostly feminine and it is most commonly written as a sa+月 combination, kanji in the first element including 咲 meaning “blossom,” 沙/砂 meaning “sand,” 彩 meaning “colouring,” 紗 meaning “gauze,” so on and so forth. The second element can be substituted with a tsu+ki combination, combining either 津 (tsu) meaning “harbour, haven” or 都 (tsu) meaning “metropolis” with a ki kanji, such as 希/稀, either meaning “rare” or part of 希望 (kibō) meaning “hope, wish, aspiration,” 姫 meaning “princess,” 季 meaning “season” or 樹/木 meaning “tree.”
The second one is mainly masculine with a significant feminine minority and it is most commonly written with a combination of 颯 meaning “sudden, quick” (others including 皐 and 幸/倖, the latter meaning “good luck, happiness”) and a ki kanji or 月.
Popularity:
Satsuki has been used as a feminine name since the late Nara period (710-794), back then suffixed with 賣/女 (-me). However, it wasn’t until the Meiji period (1868-1912) that its usage began to rise (for both genders). The name first peaked in usage for females in the 1900s and 1910s, ranking within the bottom quarter of the top 100 with percentage levels at slightly below 0.3%.
In the following decades, female percentages would maintain within the 0.1% range, not touching the top 100, stretching into the 1990s and 2000s by which point masculine usage would rise into the 0.02% and 0.03% levels by 2000. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my preliminary 2014-9 names research, the average percentage for baby girls is over 0.23% with the percentage for boys at over 0.05%, representing a slight increase in overall popularity compared to the previous decade.
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