About NihonNames

NihonNames helps people explore Japanese names: writers naming characters, parents looking for inspiration, learners of Japanese, gamers choosing usernames, and anyone curious how their own name looks in katakana. The site is run by nihonnames.

What you will find here

The site covers 1,516 first names and 1,000 surnames, each with kanji spellings, readings, literal meanings and similar names. There is a name generator, a converter that writes your name in katakana and hiragana, a search and guides on pronunciation, honorifics, surnames and historical naming. You can start on the home page or browse the first names and last names.

Where the data comes from

First names, surnames and readings come from the JMnedict names dictionary, and kanji meanings come from KANJIDIC2. Both belong to the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group (EDRDG) and are used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. We group each reading into one page, order the spellings by how common their characters are, and add our own notes, tables and guides.

How to read the meanings

A Japanese name is usually chosen for its sound and for the kanji that express a hope or an image. The meanings shown here are literal translations of each kanji, so they describe what the characters say, not what a particular family intended. Where a name has a well-known cultural link, such as a famous bearer or a festival, we mention it in a short note written by us.

Editorial policy

We write for people, not for search engines. Notes and guides are written in plain language, checked against reliable sources where we can, and updated when we find a mistake. We do not sell links, sponsored posts or paid placements, and we do not copy text from other sites. The name converter gives suggestions, not official spellings, and the pages say so.

Corrections

If you spot a wrong reading, an incorrect meaning or a missing name, please contact us. We review every report and fix confirmed errors.

How the site is funded

NihonNames is free to use and is supported by advertising. Ads are labeled and never change what we write. See the privacy policy for how advertising and cookies work.