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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.

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.

Haato (はあと)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: hah:-to [háà.tò̞]
Variant transliteration: Hāto

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is an adaptation of the English word heart, the kanji 心 used for this name either on its own or prefixed with a kanji that either extends its image, like 強, from classical adjective 強し (tsuyoshi, modern tsuyoi) meaning “strong, potent, tough; brawny, powerful; firm, solid,” or 温, from stem atata- (e.g. adjective 温かい (atatakai)) referring to warmth, consideration and kindness, or (partially) contains the reading ha, like 遥 meaning “far off, distant,” 羽 meaning “feather,” 波 meaning “wave,” 葉 meaning “leaf” or 覇 meaning “domination.”
More commonly though, it is suffixed with a to kanji, such as 斗, referring to the Chinese constellation known as the Dipper, 都 meaning “metropolis,” 人 meaning “person,” 土 meaning “earth, soil, dirt” or 登 meaning “ascent.” The 心+to combination is less common for this name than the ha+a+to combination, kanji with the reading a including 亜 and 愛 meaning “love, affection.”

Popularity:
In use since around the 1990s, the name is a rarely used one for boys, having been given to less than 0.005% of boys every year in the Heisei period (1989-2019) despite sharing the first and last moras with late Heisei and Reiwa favourite Haruto.

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

Tsuyoshi (つよし)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: tsuu-yo-shee [tsɨ́ᵝ.jò̞.ɕì]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is derived from the classical adjective 強し (tsuyoshi, modern tsuyoi) meaning “strong, potent, tough; brawny, powerful; firm, solid.” There are many kanji in use that have some sort of link ranging from shared meanings to connotations brought on by the adjective’s meanings. Most of them include:

剛 毅 健 豪 壮 力 勝
堅 烈 侃 雄 魁 幹 巌

A shi kanji can be added after a single kanji, like 志 meaning “will, aim, goal” (also in use as a single kanji), 史 meaning “history,” 士 meaning “warrior; samurai” or 司 meaning “office.” Alternatively, the first element can be split into two, with a tsu kanji like 津 meaning “harbour, haven” and a yo kanji like 代/世 meaning “generation.” One other way of writing this name is to combine a tsu kanji with one having the nanori reading yoshi, such as 喜 meaning “delight, pleasure.”

Popularity:
From the 1910s to the 1950s, Tsuyoshi seemed to have mainly stuck in the lower half of the top 100, though by the 1960s, it rose to its decadal peak of over 0.725%, placing it within the top 20. It started decreasing in the 1970s and 1980s, accelerating by the Heisei period (1989-2019). According to my preliminary name research for the period between 2014-8, just over 0.01% of boys were given this name, sharing its fate with some other names popular in the mid-20th century.

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

Hayate (はやて)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: hah-yah–te~hah-yah-te [hà.já.té̞]~[há.jà.tè̞]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
The word is written as 疾風 which refers to a gale or otherwise a strong or swift wind. It is derived from earlier hayachi in which the first element seems to come from the stem of the adjective 疾い (hayai) meaning “fast, quick” and the second element is likely to be cognate with the second part of the word 東風 (kochi), referring to an easterly wind.
Nowadays, as a name, it is far more likely to be used as the single kanji 颯 meaning “quick, sudden,” which fits in with what the word means. Other uses of single kanji for this name include 迅 and 駿, which technically share similar meanings to 颯, and 隼, referring to a peregrine falcon.
The name can be written with a 2-kanji combination, as seen below – some of the kanji are used only to conjure up an image and thus have no effect on the reading:

1st kanji 2nd kanji
颯 see above 風 “wind”
駿 see above 颯 see above
迅 see above 天/空 “sky”
隼 see above 輝 “brightness, brilliance”
追 “chase, pursuit” 力 “strength, power”
羽 “feather” 走 “running, gliding”
勇 “bravery, courage” 大 “big, large”
速 see 疾い above

Popularity:
Usage for this name began to increase in the 1990s, initiated by the inclusion of 颯 as a jinmeiyō kanji in March 1990. At the start of the decade, it was given to only around 0.010% of boys, increasing to over 0.15% throughout the first half of the 2000s. Based on Baby Calendar rankings data as well as my preliminary 2014-9 names research, usage in that time frame stabilised somewhat, though down a bit compared to a decade before with percentage levels within the range of 0.1-0.15%.

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

Takezō (たけぞう)

Posted on by maybeitisdaijirou

Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: tah-ke–zo: [tà.ké̞.zó̞ː]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
Most kanji that can be used for this name are in the table below:

take (たけ) zō (ぞう)
武/猛 “brave” 蔵/藏 “possession”
竹 “bamboo” 造 “structure”
丈 “height, stature” 三 “three”
毅 “strong”
健 “healthy”
岳 “peak; mountain”

Popularity:
Though there are no records of Takezō in the merchant data, Collazo’s villager data has 9 men whose names were written as 竹蔵, meaning that usage for this name in the Edo period (1603-1868) is somewhere between slightly uncommon and slightly frequent. Like most other names used in that period, usage decreased during the 20th century and by the Heisei period (1989-2019), it became rarely used.

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

Rikiya (りきや)

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Sources Pronunciation guide

(Main) gender: Male
Pronunciation: rʸee-kʸee-yah [ɾʲí.kʲì.jà]

Etymology and/or ways to write:
This name is consisted of (mainly) 力 meaning “strength, power” and a ya kanji like 也, 哉, 矢 meaning “arrow” or 弥/彌 meaning “increase.” 也 is used as a phonetic kanji but can refer to archaic auxiliary verb なり (nari) meaning “to be.” The first element can be split into two kanji, shown in the table below:

ri (り) ki (き)
理 “reason, logic” 樹 “tree”
里 “village” 輝 “brightness, brilliance”
利 “advantage, benefit” 貴 “precious, valuable”
吏 “officer” 希/稀 “rare;” part of 希望 (kibō) “hope, wish, aspiration”
璃 part of 瑠璃 (ruri) “lapis lazuli” 喜 “delight, pleasure”
梨 “pear” 季 “season”
立 “stand, rise” 紀 “account, chronicle”
生 “vitality”
基 “origin”
起 “rise”
己 6th heavenly stem in Chinese calendar
城 “castle”

Popularity:
Pre-WWII usage of this name was very uncommon, though it did begin to see a slow and gradual rise in the second half of the 20th century. In 1990, it was given to around 0.042%, rising to a peak of 0.096% in 1995 before dropping down in popularity, being given to only around 0.013% of boys by 2007.

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