Japanese naming trends

[katsuno-hitomi.livejournal.com]

Japanese names have changed a lot over the years, just as names elsewhere have.For example, check out the top 5 names for each gender in 1915 in Japan:

Boys
Kiyoshi
Saburou
Shigeru
Masao
Tadashi

Girls
Chiyo
Chiyoko
Fumiko
Shizuko
Kiyo

Now lets take a look at 1965:

Boys
Makoto
Hiroshi
Osamu
Naoki
Tetsuya

Girls
Akemi
Mayumi
Yumiko
Keiko
Kumiko

Finally, a look at the top 10 of 2005:

Boys
Yuuki
Haruto
Souta
Yuuto
Haruki
Kouki
Kaito
Takumi
Hayato
Shouta

Girls
Hina
Yui
Miyu
Haruka
Sakura
Nanami
Ayaka
Honoka
Momoka
Aoi

So if you're looking for a female name considered old-fashioned in Japan, you can't go wrong with names ending in -ko.

Probably only useful to people writing stories set in Japan, but still interesting. The info comes from http://japanese.about.com/ .

Comments

[forthemorrow.livejournal.com]

Love Haruki. Totally think Murakami is behind that trend! Haha. ; )