Japanese baby names

Japanese names are written in kanji whose meaning depends on the characters chosen, so a name like Kenji can carry several meanings; we give the common ones. Of the names we have researched, 12 are Japanese, given to 4,826 US babies in 2025.

Rising Japanese names

Biggest climbers in rank since 2020: Kiyomi (#1,489 to #765), Yuna (#1,440 to #952), Emi (#1,358 to #882), Akira (#1,152 to #983), Aya (#789 to #644), Akari (#2,323 to #542), Kaizen (#1,584 to #364), Jiraiya (#1,081 to #990).

Japanese girl names (6)

Name	Meaning	Rank 2025	Babies 2025
Aya	several origins (Japanese, Akkadian goddess)	#644	449
Kairi	video-game name; Estonian coinage	#1,041	239
Akira	bright, clear	#983	257
Emi	depends on the kanji (e.g. 'smile')	#882	303
Kiyomi	pure + beautiful (one kanji spelling)	#765	355
Yuna		#952	271

Japanese boy names (6)

Name	Meaning	Rank 2025	Babies 2025
Kobe	from Kobe, Japan	#519	578
Kenzo		#630	445
Kaizen	improvement (Japanese word)	#364	895
Jiraiya	Japanese folk hero (from a Chinese tale)	#990	231
Kenji	depends on the kanji (e.g. 'healthy second son')	#944	249
Akari	light, brightness (one spelling)	#542	554

How origins are assigned

Each name gets one origin: the language its meaning comes from, which is not always the language it reached English through. Mateo is Spanish in form but Hebrew in origin, so it is listed as Hebrew. The lists cover the roughly 2,000 most used names we have researched so far. Common meanings among Japanese names: light, names from places, beautiful.