Tora (とら)
Sources | Pronunciation guide |
(Main) gender: Generally unisex, currently male
Pronunciation: to-rah [tó̞.ɾà]
Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name comes from the word referring to a tiger, written as 虎. When written as 寅, it refers to the sign of the tiger in the Chinese zodiac. A more recent single kanji for this name is 彪, which can refer to a small tiger or otherwise the stripes of a tiger.
As far as 2-kanji combinations go, 刀良 and 戸良 are mostly found in examples from before the 20th century, 刀 (to) and 戸 (to) meaning “sword; knife” and “door” respectively and 良 (ra) meaning “good.” Kanji used more recently include 十 meaning “ten,” 人 meaning “person” and 叶 meaning “grant, answer” for the first element, and 羅 meaning “thin silk, gauze” and 楽 meaning “comfort, ease” for the second element.
Popularity:
This name has been in use as a feminine name since at least the Nara period (710-794). Back then and for centuries afterwards, feminine name were, for the most part, suffixed with 賣/女 (-me). Usage of this name for females has, to some extent, been common for more than 1,000 years and has been especially popular among those born in the year of the Tiger. Regarding Edo period (1603-1868) popularity, data from Tsunoda regarding its usage in the early part of the period puts the average percentage at over 1% (most of the sources come from Kyūshū with one from the north of Honsh, though Tora is commonly used in all sources, so the popularity is spread out). The average percentage for the latter part, based on Tsunoda and Collazo, is just under 0.95%, within the top 20.
Like most feminine name of the olden days, it began dropped in popularity throughout the first half of the 20th century and it’s at this time that birth name masculine usage began to very slowly increase. Since the 2000s, usage of this name has been mostly masculine with percentages in the second half of the 2010s at just under 0.01% according to my preliminary 2014-9 names research combined with Baby Calendar rankings data.
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