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New Light on the Riddle of Kirakira Names in Japanese

西原　麻衣 （John Gatewood ゼミ）

1. Introduction

　Myrelative's sonhasanunusualname.Hisname is 蒼樹Sōju ,which inJapanese ismadeupoftwokanji 蒼sou,meaning‘blue’and樹 ju,

‘tree.’ In all honesty, Iwas quite surprisedby thenamewhen I firstheard it, because Ithoughtthenamesoundedlikeakirakiraname.Kirakira（literally,‘shiny’）isthetermgiventounusualandorunreadablefirstnamesinJapan.ThesenamesaresweepingthenationofJapaninpopularity thesedays,butat thesametimekirakira names have beenwidely criticized.Forexample,ByokanSunday,an internetnewswebsite, ran an article aboutkirakira names.Asummaryof thearticle is as follows.NewsZero ,which is one of Japan’smost popularnewsprograms,broadcast thatoneemergencyroomdoctorhadsuggestedthatkirakiranamesmightbeacause formakingmedicalmistakesonTwitter and his twitterwas flooded bycommentsonAugust8th,2013.Somemembersof theaudiencewhowatched it criticized thisnamingtrendonTwitter.Theysaidthings like

“Theparentswhonamed their childrenwithkirakiranamesareterrible.”and“Ipitychildrenwhoweregivenkirakiranames.”　Inaddition,YushiMatsuura,whoisamedicalintern of the Japanese Red CrossMedicalCenter inWakawamaPrefecture, publishedapaper in2015.The titlewas“WhatdowedowhenpatientswithkirakiranamescometotheEmergencyRoom?”According to thatpaper,they insisted that theparentswhogave theirchildrenkirakiranamesdosuchthingsasdecideto visit hospitals aftermidnight in spite of

recommendationstovisithospitalsduringusualvisitationhours. In otherwords, themedicalinternhinted that theparentswhogive theirchildrenkirakira namesmight be somehowsociallyineptorunintelligent.　This comment brings up an importantquestion. Is it true that parentswho givetheir childrenkirakira names are actuallysocially inept or unintelligent?Though thispaper furnishes an argument against thoseopinions,what Iwould really like to show isthatkirakiranamesreflectanumberofrecentandsomehistorical social conditions in Japan.ThestudywasundertakeninordertopointouttheJapanese legal systemandJapanesesocialsituation’s influenceonkirakiranamingtrends.Iwillshowthedefinitionandsomeexamplesofkirakiranames,orDQNnames,astheyarealsosometimescalled.

2. Definition and examples of kirakira names

2.1 Definition of kirakira names （or DQN Names）　First, Iwill quoteonedefinitionofkirakiranames fromAkihabara News , which is aninternet newswebsite that is published inJapaneseandEnglish.

Kirakiraliterallymeans“shiny”or“sparkly”andwhat is going on is kids aregettingshinynewnamesthatlookorsoundcuteorinteresting,butareunintelligibletoallbutthekid’sparents.TheChineseKanji arebeingusedasaphoneticsymbolratherthanforthemeaningofthekanji.Andnamesarebeinggiventhatsoundlikecharactersfrom

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animationfilmsorgames.　Inotherwords,kirakiranamesare“shiny”or

“sparkly” Japanese names.Those names areuniqueandgenerallyunintelligible,which is tosay, they are unreadable using conventionalkanji rules.DQN,which ispronounceddokyun,is an internet slang termmeaning a stupidpersonorbehaving foolishly.On the Internet,thosekirakiranamesarealsocalledDQNnamesout of spite.According toNicoNicopedia , thetermDQNisderivedfromatelevisionprogramnamed“Witnessing!Dokyun”broadcast from1994 to 2002. Somepeoplehave insisted thatDQNisadiscriminatorytermbecauseitisusedtodenoteastupidperson,onetobelookeddownupon.Toarguethispointwouldcarryustoofaraway fromthepurposeof thispaper, so Iwillleavethatproblemuntouched.Fromthispoint,Iwilluse the termkirakiranames torefer tothenewtypesoffirstnamesthatsomemedicalpersonnelarecurrentlycriticizinginJapan.

2.2　Examples of kirakira names　These names f irst gave rise to publiccontroversy in 1993. A father sued to getpermissiontogivehischildthenameakuma,theJapaneseword fordevil.The fatherdiscussedthenamewithmunicipalofficestaffworkersandwasrejected.But in theend,hegavehischildanothername.Since thiswas reportedwidelyin themedia, the Japanese public has paidspecialattentiontothesestrangeandseeminglysenseless names from that time on. I haveclassifiedkirakiranamesintothefourcategoriesbelowbasedonAStudyofKirakiraNamesbyHitomiIto.

2.2.1 Kirakira names that are like a part of word’s syllables　According toTamahiyo , amagazinewhichresearchedthemostpopularnames in2015,結愛—standingthirdonthelist—waspronouncedYu-a .According toHiromi Ito,kirakiranames

haveafeaturewhichareusedapartofword’ssyllables. 愛 means‘love’andthemostgeneralpronunciation is“a-i”and ithas twosyllables,aand i,not“a.”Parentsprobablyusingthe“a”syllable from the startof愛.The following issametypeas theaboveexample.Mamafam, isaninformationmagazineforfamilieswholiveinAkitaPrefecture. In thispublication therearegirlsnamed莉愛Ri-a.

2.2.2 Kirakira names which use unusual nanori　Iwill examinenanori further in the nextchapter.NanoriisaspecialpronunciationsystemwhosepronunciationsareonlyusedinJapanesepeople’snames.Somepronunciationsofnanoriarenormallyusedwhengivingnames,howeverrecently some parents have been choosingunusualnanoripronunciations.　柳原愛子,YanagiharaNaruko（1859 –1943）wasaconcubineofEmperorMeijiandshewasthemotherofEmperorTaishō.愛子 usually isnotreadNaruko,however,accordingtothekanjidictionary, it canbe read thisway.愛has13nanorireadings,andoneisnaru.Choosingtheseunusualnanori readings isonetypeofkirakiraname.　Anotherexample is 真心（Masamune）whichisamasculinenameasreportedontheWakabaMaternity cl inic’s homepage.真心means

‘true heartedness or sincerity’in Japaneseand it isusuallypronouncedmagokoro . Icouldnotunderstandwhy真心 is readmasa-mune.Pronunciationofmasaistheusualpronunciation,howeverIcannotread心 asmune.Researchingnanori pronunciations of 心, it turns out thatthereisananoripronunciationofmuneforthiskanji.Peoplecannotread theseunusualnanoripronunciationsandchoosingthemcausespeopletolabelchildren’snamesaskirakiranames.

2.2.3 Kirakira names using okiji　Okiji is the term for kanjiwhich are leftunpronouncedwhenreadingChinesecharacters.

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There aremanykirakira nameswhich useokiji .For example, aboywhowasnamed晴空 ,usuallyreadasSeikū,（lit.‘clearsky’）wasintroduced onKongetsu-no akachan ,which isahomepageof theShiinamaternityclinic.Onemight also think this name is read asHaru-sora, orSei-sora. ThisnameisnotreadasSeikū,rather, it isusedasSora .Thusthe 晴of 晴空is anokiji , a redundantkanji contributingnopronunciation.

2.2.4 Examples of kirakira names that are like word association games　Somenamesresemblewordassociationgames;theyarelikegamesofmatchthepronunciation.A JapanesenewspapernamedAsahiShinbunpublishedaname,written 月 that ispronouncedLuna,orRuna.月actuallymeans‘moon’and ispronouncedtsuki inJapanese,whileluna is theLatinwordformoon.Thisname isanexamplewhere parents decided to match anotherlanguagepronunciationwithkanjimeanings.　Another example, reportedby thewebsiteDQNNames, is the child’sname 紗冬,whichis inexplicably pronouncedSugā . One ofpronunciation of紗 issa and one of thepronunciations for 冬 istō .TheJapanesewordfor sugar is砂糖satō . In otherwords,紗冬canreadassatō ,ahomonymfor theJapaneseword for sugar. It seems this child’sparentsassociated the reading of紗冬,satō with theword砂糖,satō ,‘sugar.’This is a strangeexampleofakirakiranamecreatedviaEnglishmeaning andpronunciation.A third exampleis the name宇宙,meaning‘outer space’andis pronounceduchu .Using these characters,someparentshavenamed theirchildNasa , inanother incrediblewordassociationgame.Ofcourse, thispronunciation iscompletelywrong,andnoJapanesewouldbeabletoreadthenamewithoutinstruction.

2.2.5 International-sounding Kirakira names　Below are somekirakira names that fitinto the categoryof international orwesterninfluencednames,whichweregivenonTakkett ,anon-linewebsitefornames.　Thename 真九州is readasMakkusu .Thechild’sparentswere obviously trying to findcharacters thatwould fit the sound of theWesternname,Max.Another,明日,readashita ,theJapanesewordfortomorrow,ismeanttobepronouncedasTomoroh.Thisisanothercaseofa foreign languagereadinggiventoaJapanesekanji character. 美凪子ispronouncedBiinasu ,almost in linewith someof thekanji’sactualpronunciations.The characters respectivelymean‘beauty’,‘calm’, and‘child’ or‘youngwoman,’with the last one often appearingattheendofgirl’snames.Because theJapaneselanguage lacksthe‘v’sound, this is theclosesttoVenus thisgirl’sparentscouldget tonametheir daughter. Finally comes音“oto ,” theJapaneseway topronounce sound,which theparentsdecidedtoreadasRizumu,orRhythm.Whatmakes this particularly strange is thatthoughthiskanji isusedforthewordmusic, itis innowayassociatedwithbeatsorkeepingrhythm.　RiokoKurihara,whoisanexpertinonomancy,whichisatypeofastrologybasedonorderandnumberof strokes inkanjinames,publishedabookentitledSekai deTsuujiruNamaeBukku

（‘ABook onHow toGiveNamesThat areUsedWorldwide’）,toprovidesomeinternationalnames.Thisbook isenoughevidence to showthat someparentshaveadesire togive theirchildreninternationalnames.

2.2.6 Names based on how they sound　NaomiMatsushima,who isanentertainer inJapan,madeherfirstdaughter’snamepubliconherweblog. Herfirstdaughter’snameisLara ,writtenas 空詩 .空meansskyand 詩ispoeminJapanese.空hastwosyllables,soandra .Her

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motherprobablyusedthesecondsyllableattheendofaword for thepronunciation.Howeverthere are strongdoubts about詩.詩“shi” isneverpronouncedra . Inmyopinion, thiskanjiwaschosento improvethe imageofhername.According toherweblog, shewascalling thebaby Lara temporarily during pregnancy.Consequently,shedidnotrelatetoothernames.Inthisrespect, itcanbepresumedthatNaomiMatsushimaconcentratedonnameswithaniceringorappearancewhenshenamedherbaby.

3. The system of Koseki-hō3.1 Naming customs and laws in Japan　In Japan, there is a law called FamilyRegistrationorKoseki-hō ,whichprovides theguidelines forgivingnames.Thekoseki is thesystembywhichbirths,deaths,marriages,anddivorces of Japanese nationals are recorded.Here, let usdevote some time tounderstandhownames are given to newborn babies inJapan.

3.1.1 Japanese scripts – hiragana and katakana　Before explaining some of the detailedwaysofnamingnewbornbabies in Japan,wemust understand a little about thewrittenJapanese language. InJapanesetherearethreewritten scripts;hiragana,katakana, andkanji.Hiraganaandkatakanaconsistof46charactersrespectively, andeach characterhas a singlepronunciation.

3.1.2 Japanese kanji characters　Almost every Japanesekanji characterhasmultiplepronunciations. It ispossible todividethesepronunicationsintotwocategories;Chinesereadings,on-yomiandJapanesereadings,kun-yomi .Added to these, a fewkanji alsohaveapronunciationofasystemcalledthenanori .ThenanoriarethatkanjicharacterreadingsusedinJapanesepeople'snameswhichdiffer fromthe

standardon-yomi andkun-yomi .According tothekoseki-hō ,thenanoripronunciationsofkanjiaretheonlyonesthatarepermittedtobeusedinnames.　The figure below indicates a variety ofpronunciationsof thecharacter forbi （美）.Bimeans‘beauty’inJapaneseand it isoneof themost popular kanji and it is often for girl innames.Forexamples,美咲（misaki ,‘beautifulbloom’）, 美香（mika,‘beautifulscent’）,美海（mi-u ‘beautiful sea’.）Thekanjihasa singlekun-yomi andon-yomi pronunciation respectively,butalsoatotaloffifteennanoripronunciations.However,theothernonoripronunciationsexceptfor‘bi’,arenotusualpronunciations.Therearefewpeoplewhoevenknowabout theseotherpronunciations.

Figure…1:…Pronunciation…of…美

　Theother example is太, themostpopularmasculinekanjifornamingin2016.ThishastwoJapaneseandChinese readingsand15nanorireadings, for example,太郎,Tarō and太一,Taichi.These samenanori pronunciations arenotusualpronunciations.

3.2 Kanji used in naming　According to thekoseki-hō, the characterswhenusedasnamesaredecidedbygovernmentauthorites.Somekanjiareonlypermittedtobeused inpersonalnames.The followingarticles

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aredirectlyquoted fromthewebpageof2016Ministry of Justice,Chapter IVNotificationsSection2BirthArticle50.

（1）For thegivennameofachild, charactersthataresimpleandincommonuseshallbeused.

（2）The scope of characters that are simpleand in common use shall be defined byOrdinanceoftheMinistryofJustice.

　Thereare983approvednamekanji thatareonlypermitted tobeused inpersonalnames.Knownasjinmeiyōkanji, thesewereaseparatecategory from thecommonlyusedcharacterscalledjōyōkanji.

3.2.1 Tōyō kanji　In 1946, afterWorldWar II, the Japaneseministry redesignated 1850 kanji characterswhichwerepermitted fordailyuse,knownasthe 当用漢字（tōyōkanji ,‘kanjiusedforthetimebeing’.）ThislimitwaspurposedtopromotetheRomanizationoftheJapaneselanguage（SocietyfortheRomanizationoftheJapaneseAlphabet）.However, this limitwasnotapplied forgivingnames.Thentherearemanyunreadablenameswhichusedifficultkanji.　ThekanjiwhichcouldbeusedingivennameswaslimitedwheninDecember1947thekoseki-hō （RegistrationLaw）wasproclaimed.Sincethen, only 1850tōyōkanji werepermitted tochoosefromwhengivingnames.Howeversomeparents petitioned for the loosening of theseregulationsbecausesomepopularnamekanjiswere permitted.As parents requested,TheJapanesegovernmentdecided toadd92kanjiadditionalcharacterstothelistofjinmeiyōkanji .　A fewyears later, afterWorldWar II, theJapanese education standardwas extremelyhighandtheJapaneseLanguageCouncilinsistedon the importance of kanji for daily use.Aspetitioned, theJapanesegovernmentannouncedthatjōyōkanji ,which includedtōyōkanji, wasthenadditionally increasedbyanother95kanji

characters in1981.According to theJapaneseagencyforCulturalAffairs,thereare2928kanjicharactersthatcanbeusedingivingnames.

3.2.3 The increase in “feeling kanji”　Evenifwehavenotlearnedakanji’smeaning,wecan sometimes recognizekanji as“feelingcharacters.”For example, someparents haverequested to use the characters腥which ispronouncedsei orshō.腥 ,胱 ,kōand憃 ,orokafornaming.腥 is composedof the charactersformoon（月）and star（星）however,腥hasnuancesoffishy,raw,meat,ordirty.Thekanji腥looksbeautifulbutthemeaningisnotsuitableforaperson’sname.Also,characterssuchas胱

（meaning‘bladder’or‘rubberbagforcollectingurine’）and 憃（means‘foolish’）donot haveappropriatemeanings for use in a person’sname.

3.3 Lack of laws regarding kanji for names　ThesecondreasonhowkirakiranamesreflectproblemswiththeJapanese lawsystemis thatthere isnoprovision inwhichparents shoulddecidehowwepronouncekanjifornames.Iwillexplainsimply.Intheformersection,Iexplainedthat parents should use the designated 2928kanji inpersonalnames from theMinistry ofJustice’sOrdinance.Thereareregulationswhengivingnames,however, there isnoprovision inwhichparentsdecidehowweshouldpronouncekanji fornames.Therefore someparentsusenameswhicharedifficult toreadwhennamingchildren.

3.4 Too many conditions for “the perfect name”　Parentsnow tend toworry that theymustgive their children the“perfect name.”Thistrendhasbeen reportedbyKobayashiKosei,a professor at Kyoto Bunkyo University.According toKobayashi, it isdifficult tomaketheperfectname,because thereare toomanystandardsingivingnames.

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　First, thekanji’smeaning is vital. It is notgoodtousekanjiwhichhavenegativemeaningsfornames.Inthepreviouschapter,Imentionedthatparentswanttoaddthekanjisuchas腥,胱and憃 tothe listofkanjiwhichcanbeused innames.Ofcourse,well-chosennameswouldnotcontainthesenegativekanji.Asecondconditionisthecombinationofkanji.　The balance of the kanji’s first name andfamilyname is important.Forexample, 福田恵里（FukudaEri）.Everykanji inthisthatnamecontains a variation of 田（ta,‘a rice field’）.Thusthatnamemightbeconsideredtonotbeingoodbalance.Otherexamplesare 森村 麻李

（MorimuraMaki）whichcontains amultitudeof trees（木）,and 沢渡 潤治（SawatariJunji）whichcontains toomanywatermarkers“氵,”representedby the three-strokeradical to theleftofeachcharacter.　Third, there exists a common superstitionregarding number of strokes in your namedeterminingyour fortune.This divinationbythe total number of strokes inkanji is calledonomancy. It is a foretellingwhichpredicts aperson’sfortunebythetotalnumberofstrokesinthekanjisoffamilyandfirstname.However,there are numberless school in Japan and ifparentswant togive their childrenaperfectnameofall school, theycanneverdecide it. Ishoweda featureofkirakira namesbasedonhowtheysound inthesecondchapter.Parentstend to decide on names how they sound.If the total number of strokes is not good isthat,parentshave toresearch forotherkanjisthat have same pronunciations. The resultparentsareswayedbyonomancyanditcausesdifficulty in picking kanji for names. In thesecond chapter, I introduced thenameLara.Actually, hermother,Ms.Matsushimaplacedimportanceononomancy.Ascanbeseen,therearemanyconditions for theperfectnameandtheseconditionshavemadethechildren’snamesproblemallthemorecomplicated.

4. Kirakira names reflect social conditions

4.1 Before kirakira names became popular　KunioMakino,whoisaresearcherofnamingpractices,clearlyshowsthatnamesreflectsocialconductions inhisbook.Accordingtohisbook,Kodomo-no-namae ga abunai ,we can dividethemintothreecategories.First,therearesomenamescoinedduringtheWorldWarII.Second,therearesomenamesthatwereusedduringthefoodshortage in thepost-WorldWarIIperiod.Finally, therearethenamesthatsoundforeignornew.　WhenJapanwasatwar, Japanesebelievedthat they were destined to win the war.However, at apivotalpoint inWorldWar II,theJapanesenavywasheavilydefeated in theBattle ofMidway Island in 1942.When thefuturelookedblack,somenamesthatrelatedtovictoryinwarwerepopular,forexample,進 ,勇and勝（62-65）.AfterWorldWar IIwasover,peoplesufferedfromthefoodshortage.Atthattime itwaspopular togivenameswhicharerelatedfoodandcropssuchas茂 ,実 ,豊（66）.　From 1929 to 1968,Hiroshiwas themostpopularboy’sname, representedbyanumberof different one- and two-character namessuch as博and宏. In 1964, overseas travelwasderegulated, and thenumberof Japanesegoingabroad increasedrapidly. Inotherwords,everyday Japanesewere usually not able totravelaboardby1964.Parentsdesiredthattheirchildrenwouldactivelygoall over theworld,soHiroshiwasthemostpopularnameinthosedays.

4.2 Reflecting a desire for individuality　KunioMakino asserts that names reflectprevailingsocial conditions. If that is so,whatsocial conditions dokirakira names reflect?Tayoshi Doi, in his book entitled Kosei oAorareruKodomotachi, positsthatcontemporaryJapanese are looking for individuality or

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uniqueness in their naming customs.Afterthepostwarperiodofhigh economicgrowth,Japanbecamea richandprosperous country.Japanesehavebeenabletogetmaterialwealth.It’snowanage inwhichtheycanalsoacquireindividuality.　Thereisfurtherevidencetoshowthatparentstendtogiveuniquenames.TamagoKurabu ,amagazinereadbyaboutonethirdofexpectantJapanesemothers,oftencontainsvariousnamesfor thosewho are looking for good ideas togivenames for theirchildren.TamagoKurabuprovidedexamplesofuniquenamesintheirJuly2013issueandmanyissuessince.

5. Conclusion

　Kirakira names, which are unreadablechildren’s first names in Japan, have beenroundlycriticizedinsocialcirclesandthemedia.There is even aweb pagewhich criticizeskirakira names and on it, parentswho givetheirchildrenkirakiranamesarecastigatedassenseless.Aswehaveseen in thispaper thattherearetheotherreasons for,whichkirakiranames are given the Japanese legal systemand theJapanesesocial systemhavealsohadan influenceon the trendofchildrenreceivingkirakiranames.　A chief reason thatkirakira names aresweepingthecountryisbecauseoftheJapaneselegal system.AJapanese lawcalledKoseki-hōwasestablishedtodecidewhatkanjicharacterstousewhennamesaregiven.However, ithasnoprovision inwhichparentsdecidehowweshouldpronouncekanji fornames.These lawsystems cause this situationwhere parentsdecideselfish-decidedreadingofkanjiorunusualnanoripronunciations,‘specialkanji’sreadingsinnames’whichJapaneseusuallycannotread. Inaddition, thereare2928kanjicharacterswhichcanbeusedinnamesnow.“Feelingkanji”whichlookbeautifulbuthavestrangemeanings that

arenotsuitableforperson’snames,theproblemisgettingworse.　These are some of the Japanese socialsituation influenceskirakiranamingtrends.AsI showed,kirakira names are the symbol ofparentsgivingtheirchildrenindividuality.Afterthehigheconomicgrowthperiodof the1990s,theseoldandcontemporary trendshaveeffectonnames in Japan. It is now the agewhereJapanesecan“acquire”individualitythoughtheirnames, and parents are given their childrenkirakira names tomagnetize their children’spersonalities.

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