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Furano (ふらの)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: fuu-rah-no [ɸɯ̟́ᵝ.ɾà.nò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is derived from the place name 富良野 (Furano), used in such places in the Hokkaidō’s Kamikawa subprefecture as the city of Furano and Mount Furano. The place name itself comes from the Ainu language, though there are differing opinions on the etymology.
The first two are laid out by Batchelor with the focus on the first word huru meaning “hill.” The two terms used here are huru-(an)-nu-kotan (with the superlative/intensifying particle an, plural suffix nu with the meaning of “an abundance of” and kotan “village, place, city, town,” the last word cut out in the borrowing) and huru-nu-i (probably mistakenly transcribed as huranu-i with plural suffix combined with i meaning “place”). These terms seem to respectively refer to Mount Furano and the Tokachi Volcanic Group to which the mountain belongs to.
The final theory on its etymology is laid out by the city of Furano with the focus on hura meaning “smell.” The term used for this is hura-nu-i which, on this post, is transcribed with the meaning of “place of abundance of smell” and it’s likely referring to sulfuric fumaroles near Mount Tokachi which sources the River Furano.

As far as the given name is used, it is mostly written with hiragana, sometimes replacing the final kana の (no) with a kanji that has this reading, mainly 乃, referring to the possessive particle. Occasionally, full kanji combinations can be seen, kanji in use for this name (some with shortened readings) including 芙 (fu), part of 芙蓉 (fuyō), referring to the Confederate rose, 風 (fu) meaning “wind,” 蕗 (fu), referring to the (giant) butterbur, 良 (ra) meaning “good” and 蘭 (ra) meaning “orchid.”

Popularity:
Much like Kyara, usage of this name is rare and fairly recent with most females bearing this name born from the Heisei period (1989-2019) onwards. Most of the time, percentages at any given time float around 0.001% or below, though it occasionally rises to around 0.002%.

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

Kaera (かえら)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female
Pronunciation: kah-e-rah [ká.è̞.ɾà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
At the moment, the most popular forms of this name contain 楓/椛, shortened from kaede which refers to a maple tree, combined with a ra kanji, like 來/徠/来 meaning “arrival,” 蘭 meaning “orchid” or 良 meaning “good.” The first element can also be split into two kanji, a ka kanji like 夏 meaning “summer”, 華/花 meaning “flower” or 香 meaning “fragrance,” and an e kanji, such as 笑/咲 meaning “smile,” 瑛 meaning “crystal” or 絵 meaning “picture, drawing.”

Popularity:
Popularised by pop rock singer, lyricist, fashion model and television presenter Kimura Kaela from 2004, the name first peaked at over 0.004% in 2007, when the name was mainly written in hiragana and katakana. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my 2014-20 names research, the average percentage from 2017-2020 is well over 0.01%.

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.

Ran (らん)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Female, can be male as well
Pronunciation: rahn [ɾã́ɴ̀]
Archaic writing: らむ

Etymology and/or ways to write:
蘭, which means “orchid,” is the most often used kanji for this name by both girls and boys, followed by 藍 meaning “indigo.” 嵐, meaning “storm, tempest,” is the next most often used kanji after these two, though it tends to be primarily masculine in usage. Though rarely used, they can be suffixed with a kanji that can be reduced to the moraic nasal N, e.g. 音 meaning “sound.”

Popularity:
By the late Edo period (1603-1868), usage for Ran as a feminine name was uncommon. The average percentage, taken from Tsunoda and Collazo, would be around 0.073% at the time. After hitting a low for much of the Shōwa period (1926-1989), it started to rise again for girls (as well as boys) in the 1980s.
Regarding Heisei period (1989-2019) popularity, around 0.07% of girls and around 0.02% of boys were given this name in 1990, increasing to over 0.09% (girls) and over 0.01% (boys) by 2000. Though it dropped a little throughout the early-mid 2000s, starting in 2009, its rise took on a slightly steeper turn which ended up placing Ran in the girls’ top 100 by the mid-2010s. According to my preliminary 2014-8 names research, over 0.33% of girls born in that time period received this name.

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

Feminine names from nature

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

Today’s list will be all about feminine names that are taken from things in the natural world, be it flowers, trees or rocks.
It is going to be a bit shorter that some of the lists I’ve done recently, but other than that, let’s jump into the first name on the list, which is:

  1. Akane – this next name is mainly written as 茜, which refers to the (Japanese) madder plant
  2. Anzu – 杏 is the main form for this next name (An is the more popular reading), referring to the apricot fruit, though 杏子 can be used as well
  3. Karin – while not the most popular writing for this name, 花梨 can refer to the Burmese rosewood or the (Chinese) quince
  4. Kurumi – this next name is sometimes written as 胡桃 though not the most popular writing and it refers to a walnut
  5. Mayumi – this name can be written as a single kanji (檀) or with two kanji (真弓/眞弓), referring to Hamilton’s spindletree (Euonymus sieboldianus)
  6. Momo – the next name on this list is mainly written as 桃, referring to a peach (tree or fruit)
  7. Ran – this name is mainly written as 蘭, which refers to the orchid flower
  8. Ruri – written as either 瑠璃 or 琉璃, this name refers to the lapis lazuli metamorphic rock
  9. Sakura – ranking behind Aoi in the most popular nature-themed names overall, though it is most popularly written phonetically, 桜/櫻 can be used, referring to the cherry tree or blossom
  10. Yuzu – this final name on the list can be written as 柚 (the more popular choice) or 柚子, referring to the yuzu citrus fruit

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.