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Takuto (たくと)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: tah-kto [tá.kɯ̟̥̀ᵝ.tò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
Most of the kanji used are listed in the table below:

taku (たく) to (と)*
拓 “opening” 翔/飛 “fly, soar”
卓 “preeminence, excellence; table, desk” 人 “person”
琢 “polish, shine” 斗 “the Dipper”
匠/巧/工 “workman, artisan; craft” 登 “ascent”
逞 “burly, strong; robust” 音 “sound”
択 “choice, option” 都 “metropolis”
託 “entrusting” 叶 “grant, answer”
太 “plump, thick” 空 “sky” 杜 “shrine grove”
大 “big, large”* 久 “long time” 士 “warrior; samurai”
玖 “black jewel; nine” 仁 “benevolence, compassion, humanity”
豊 “abundant, wealthy, plentiful, rich”
隼 “peregrine falcon”
虎 “tiger”
永 “eternity”
澄 “lucidity, transparency”
心 “heart, mind”
渡 “crossing, passage”

Also used for this name are 奏音 (奏 meaning “playing music”) and 揮 (rarely used) which refers to an act of wielding and brandishing. Both examples are derived from German, the first from the word Takt, in this case a musical term for time or a bar/measure, the second shortened from Taktstock, referring to a conductor’s baton (in Japanese, タクト is used for this word as well as 指揮棒).

Popularity:
In use since the Meiji period (1868-1912), usage of this name remained rare to very uncommon until the second half of the 1980s when it began rising. By 1990, over 0.16% of boys received this name. The name ranked within the top 100 from the late 1990s to the late 2010s with percentages up above 0.3% for much of the 2000s and 2010s. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well my 2014-20 names research, the average percentage in 2020 is below 0.14%, below the top 150.

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Kyōhei (きょうへい)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: kʸo:–he: [kʲò̞ó̞.hé̞ː]
Variant transciptions: Kyohei, Kyouhei

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The two most common forms of this name are 恭平 and 恭兵, combining 恭 (kyō) meaning “respect, revere” and 平 (hei) meaning “even, flat” or 兵 (hei) meaning “soldier, army.” Other kanji with the reading kyō include:

  • 京 meaning “capital”
  • 享 meaning “enjoyment; receiving”
  • 響 meaning “echo, reverberation”
  • 匡 meaning “correct; save”
  • 喬 meaning “high, tall”
  • 亨 meaning “smooth progression”
  • 杏 meaning “apricot”
  • 教 meaning “teaching, doctrine”
  • 強 meaning “strong, hard”
  • 共/協 meaning “together”
  • 橋 meaning “bridge”

Popularity:
The name had some usage in the late 19th century, rising to over 0.1% before falling off in the early 20th century. It remained very uncommon until the early 1980s when it rose again in usage, from over 0.01% in the late 1970s to just under 0.1% in the early 1980s and over 0.1% in the mid-1980s.
The late 1980s was when the name peaked in popularity with the percentage near 0.5%. Undoubtedly, the rise in usage throughout the decade was spurred by actor Shibata Kyōhei. The first half of the 1990s would see stabilisation with percentages above 0.35% but below 0.4%, though by 1997, it already fell off the top 100, once again stabilising at around the 0.03-4% range since around 2007.

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Takehiro (たけひろ)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: tah-ke-khee-ro [tà.ké̞.çì.ɾò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is most commonly written as 雄大, made up of the kanji 雄 meaning “male” and 大 meaning “big, large.”
Regarding its overall make-up, the first element is derived mainly from the stem 猛/武 (take) which refers to bravery and ferocity with other related kanji including 健 meaning “healthy,” 毅, 剛 or 壮, the last three having meanings related to strength and hardiness. It can also be derived from 丈 (take) meaning “height, stature” or 岳 (take) meaning “peak; mountain” (both cognates) and also 竹 (take) which means “bamboo.”
As for the second element, it is derived from the stem of adjective 広(廣)/弘/宏い (hiroi) meaning “spacious, vast, wide” (as a name, also written as 博, 浩, 裕, 紘, etc.) with other related kanji in use including 洋 meaning “ocean, sea,” 寛 meaning “broadminded,” so on and so forth.

Popularity:
Though it had been used as an adulthood name among the upper class before the Meiji period (1868-1912) (see two examples here), it wasn’t until around the 1920s that it started seeing an increase in usage, albeit staying stagnant for a time afterwards until the 1960s. It peaked in popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with percentage levels at one point being close to 0.2% (not in top 100 but close) before dropping back down again with percentage levels staying at 0.02% or below since the late 2000s.

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Gō (ごう)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: go: [ɡó̞ò̞]
Variant transliterations: Go, Goh, Gou

Etymology and/or ways to write:
Though any suitable single kanji with the reading gō can be used here, in fairness, only a select few are worth mentioning here, such as 剛 or 豪 (occasionally, also 強) meaning “strong, hard” and 郷 meaning “country(side).” More recently, there are occasional instances where a kanji that can be (partially) read as u, mainly 生 meaning “birth,” suffixes these single kanji along with go kanji, like 護 meaning “protection,” 悟 meaning “enlightenment” or 吾, which is a phonetic kanji but can refer to the formal/literary 1st person pronoun.

Popularity:
Overall usage of this name is rather uncommon, not really getting above 0.2% at any one time. Regardless, the name peaked in popularity in the 1970s and 1980s with overall percentages at over 0.15%. Regarding Heisei period (1989-2019) popularity, it fell back down below 0.1% in the 1990s but managed to get at least close to it in the early 2000s before falling back to below 0.05% by 2009. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my preliminary 2014-9 names research, the average percentage for that time frame is over 0.06%.

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

Takahiro (たかひろ)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: tah-kah-khee-ro [tà.ká.çì.ɾò̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name, to put it briefly, is a combination of the stem of adjectives 高い (takai) meaning “high, tall” and 広(廣)/弘/宏い (hiroi) meaning “spacious, vast, wide,” the latter also written as 浩, 博, 裕, 紘, 絋 and 拡 when using it for a name. For the first element, 鷹, which refers to a hawk, can also be used.
Other kanji in use for this name can be seen in the table below:

taka (たか) hiro (ひろ)
貴/尊 “precious, valuable” 洋 “ocean, sea”
隆 “prosperous” 大 “big, large”
孝 “filial piety” 寛 “broadminded”
崇 “respect” 啓 “opening”
敬*/尚 “reverence, respect” 太 “plump, thick”
卓 “preeminence, excellence; table, desk” 央 “middle, centre”
雄 “male” 公 “monarch, ruler”
嵩 “bulk, volume, quantity” 玄 “deep, profound; mystery, occult”
剛 “strong, hard”
誉 “honour”
聖 “sacred, holy”
峰 “peak, summit”

* also used in the 2nd element
At least two other combinations can be used as well which do not really fit to this table which include 太陽, from taiyō which refers to the sun, and 宇宙, from uchū meaning “universe, cosmos, space.”

Popularity:
Takahiro had been used as an adulthood name among the upper class before the Meiji period (1868-1912) with at least 15 examples found on Wikipedia, one of them being Matsumae Takahiro (1829-1966), a daimyō of the Matsumae Domain in southern Hokkaido. Among the wider population throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the name was (very) uncommon.
It started to become more popular in the 1940s and 1950s, entering the top 100 in the mid-1950s and rising to the inside of the top 30 by the early 1960s. The peak decade of the name’s popularity was the 1980s when it ranked inside the top 10 and being given to over a percent of boys born back then. Regarding Heisei period (1989-2019) popularity, it still ranked inside the top 10 by 1990 though by then, it was starting to drop in popularity, falling to over 0.23% by 2000, in effect starting to rank outside the top 100. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my preliminary 2014-9 names research, the average percentage for that time frame dropped to over 0.06%.

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

Ken’yū (けんゆう)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: kew̃-yuu: [kẽ̞́ɰ̃̀.jɯ̟̀ᵝː]
Variant transliterations: Ken’yu, Ken’yuu

Etymology and/or ways to write:
Most of the kanji in use for this name can be seen in the table below:

ken (けん) yū (ゆう)
健 “health” 悠 “quiet, calm; far off, distant”
賢 “intelligence” 勇 “bravery, courage”
剣 “sword, sabre, blade” 優 “gentle, elegant; excellence, superiority”
憲 “constitution, law” 祐/佑/侑 “help”
顕 “exposure” 裕 “abundant, rich”
謙 “modest, humble” 雄 “male”
兼 “concurrence” 友 “friend”
拳 “fist” 由 “reason, cause”
絢 “gorgeous, brilliant” 右 “right”
堅 “strength, solidity”
建 “building, construction”
研 “sharpening; study”

Popularity:
Though it has been (very uncommonly) used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the majority from Okinawa prefecture, the name has seen a rise in usage since the 2000s, rising to over 0.01% by 2009 and over 0.04% by the second half of the 2010s, the latter based on Baby Calendar rankings data and my preliminary 2014-9 names research.

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

Rikimaru (りきまる)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: rʸee-kʸee–mah–ruu [ɾʲì.kʲí.má.ɾɯ̟́ᵝ]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is mainly written as 力丸, a combination of 力 (riki) meaning “strength, power” and the suffix 丸 (-maru) meaning “circle, round.” The suffix (related to another suffix, 麿/麻呂 (-maro)) was used in childhood names, mainly among those of the upper class, before the Meiji Period (1868-1912).

Popularity:
The earliest example of any capacity that I can find for this name comes from the samurai Mori Nagauji (1567-1582), one of the attendants to Oda Nobunaga, whose childhood name was Rikimaru. As for overall usage, it is very rare with only about 0.0003% of men having this name based on telephone book data. Recent usage of this name is higher (if only a tad bit) with percentages from 1990-2009 ranging between 0.002% and 0.009%, the peak occurring in the early 2000s.

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Gōichi (ごういち)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: go:–ee–chee [ɡò̞ó̞.í.tɕí]
Variant transliterations: Goichi, Gouichi

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is made up of a gō kanji, like 剛/豪 meaning “strong, hard” or 郷 meaning “country(side),” and either 一 (ichi) meaning “one” or, less commonly, 市 (ichi) meaning “market, fair.”

Popularity:
Overall usage of this name is very uncommon to rare. Based on telephone book data and my own calculations, the overall percentage of men bearing this name is estimated to be around 0.005% or less. There are very few bearers of this name recorded in Japanese passenger lists and percentages from my 1950s-80s names research normally sit below 0.02%.
Based on Namae Jiten data for the years between 1990 and 2009 as well as my preliminary 2014-9 names research, Heisei period (1989-2019) percentages max out at 0.005% with most years sitting below that.

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