I’ve been studying Japanese for a few months, along with names. The ‘ko’ suffix is very dated and only used in traditional families nowadays. I would avoid such names if you aren’t Japanese.
- [name]Rin[/name] is said REEN, rhyming with lean or keen. [name]Ren[/name] would rhyme with [name]Wren[/name].
- [name]Sara[/name] is said saw-ruh, not Sare-uh
- [name]Ami[/name] is ah-mi not [name]Amy[/name]
- [name]Erika[/name] is eh-rlee-kuh, with the weird twist on the ‘r’.
Seeing you live in Japan, you probably already know this, but here is a basic guide to vowel sounds with their Romaji (English alphabet) equivalent:
A is said ‘ah’ as in odd or car
E is said ‘eh’ as in elk or [name]Ella[/name]
I is said ‘ee’ as in me or see
O is said ‘oh’ as in own or [name]Joe[/name]
U is said ‘ooh’ as in boo or soon- but is often barely heard and very short.
Also, although Japan doesn’t have an official popularity list, many Japanese parenting sites have polls that give a fairly accurate representation of name popularity.
According to one source, the top names in 2011 were as follows:
Girls-
[name]Yui[/name] (Yoo-ee)
[name]Aoi[/name] (Ow-ee)
Yua (You-ah)
[name]Rin[/name] (Reen)
Hina Hee-nah)
Boy-
Hirota (Hee-row-tah)
[name]Ren[/name] ([name]Wren[/name])
Yuuma (YOU-mah)
Souta (SO-tah)
[name]Sora[/name] (so-rah)
[name]One[/name] important thing to note about Japanese names is that many of them are truly unisex. There are also a lot of base ‘names’ that have different prefixes or suffixes that change the meaning.
For example, take Katsu. It’s a boys’ name meaning victory.
By adding the character for ‘ki’, you get Katsuki, which roughly translates to ‘strength of victory’. [name]Ki[/name] is predominantly a boys’ ending.
By adding the character ‘mi’, you get Katsumi, which roughly translates to ‘beautiful victory’. Mi is almost exclusively a girls’ suffix (it can be a prefix, but more commonly is added at the end.)
[name]How[/name] long are you planning to live in Japan? [name]Vesper[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] is not a very Japanese-friendly name; I bet [name]Vesper[/name] comes out as Besupa. If you are in the military and will be traveling a lot, than I suggest a name easy to say English and Japanese, but not necessarily Japanese, such as:
[name]Emma[/name] (Romaji- [name]Ema[/name])
[name]Zoey[/name]/[name]Zoe[/name] (Romaji- Zoi)
[name]Maisie[/name] (Romaji- Meizii)
[name]Mia[/name] (Romaji- [name]Miya[/name]; an actual Japanese name)
[name]Anya[/name] (Romaji- Annya)
[name]Karen[/name] (Romaji- [name]Keiren[/name])
[name]Kaia[/name] (Romaji- [name]Kaiya[/name]; which is another Japanese name)
[name]Katie[/name] (Romaji- Keiti)
[name]Kamaria[/name] (Romaji- [name]Kamaria[/name])
[name]Juno[/name] (Romaji- Juuno)
[name]Selena[/name] (Romaji- Seriina)
If you are going to stay in Japan for awhile, than a name that is Japanese but easily said in English would be advisable:
[name]Naomi[/name] ([name]Said[/name] close to now-mi in Japanese; means above all, beauty)
Asami (ah-sah-mi; means beautiful morning)
[name]Amaia[/name]/[name]Amaya[/name] (night rain; the first spelling is ah-my-uh and the second is ah-mah-yah)
[name]Emi[/name] ([name]Emmie[/name]; beautiful blessing or picture)
Izumi (ee-zoo-me; fountain)
Kaori (cow-ri; fragrance weaving)
Kasumi (kuh-smee; mist)
Kiyomi (ki-yo-mee; pure beauty)
[name]Mai[/name] (mye; dance)
[name]Mari[/name] (mah-ree; Japanese form of [name]Mary[/name])
[name]Megumi[/name] (meh-goo-me; blessing)
[name]Mika[/name] (me-kuh; beautiful fragrance)
Mizuki (me-zoo-key; beautiful moon)
Sayuri (sah-yoo-ree; lily)
[name]Sakura[/name] (saw-kruh; cherry blossom- very popular in Japan)
[name]Mio[/name] (blossom)
