February Feature
Japanese names are changing! - UK-Japan Baby-name trends -
BY Sayaka Matsumoto
To read in Japanese, click here(¤³¤Îµ»ö¤òÆüËܸì¤ÇÆɤà¡Ë
2006 Top 10 baby names in Japan (by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company)
|
The TOP 10 names of babies born in 2006 has recently been published. According to the ranking released by Meiji Yasuda Live Insurance Company, the most popular girls¡Ç name was ¡ÈÍÛºÚ(Hina)¡É, followed by ¡ÈÈþ±©(Miu)¡É and ¡ÈÈþºé(Misaki)¡É. All of the top-10 names are very cute, but most of them are quite new names which you would have rarely been heard of at least 20 years ago. Japanese names are certainly changing.
Some non-Japanese people might think that most of Japanese girls¡Ç names have ¡Èko¡É at the end of their names. It is true that most of the top-10 girls¡Ç names before 1970s had ¡Èko¡É, like ¡ÈTomoko¡É,¡ÉYoko¡É,¡ÉKumiko¡É and ¡ÈHiroko¡É. However, there is not even a single name with ¡Èko¡É in the top-10 names in 2006.
The same survey also found that the most popular boys¡Ç name in 2006 is ¡ÈΦ(Riku)¡É, followed by ¡ÈÂçµ±(Daiki or Hiroki)¡É and ¡ÈÏ¡(Ren)¡É. These are also very new names and they are quite difficult to read even for Japanese people. It is also complicated that there are so many different ways of reading for each name with kanji (Chinese characters).
Turning now to British baby names. According to The National Statistics Online, Jack and Jessica topped the list for names of babies born last year. ¡ÈJack¡É - the medieval nickname-form of John- holds the number one slot for the 12th year running. It seems to be very ¡ÈBritish¡É which respects tradition, that some traditional names are still in top-10.
Of course, British names also have some kind of trends. Mr Simon Williiamson, managing director of Bounty, says that the trends of British baby-names are often influenced by the names of celebrities and the names of celebrities¡Ç babies. For example, ¡ÈPreston¡É shot up the chart from ranking number 1,650 in 2005 to number 304 in 2006, presumably in honour of the Celebrity Big Brother star, Samuel Preston. Also, ¡ÈHarry¡É has raised its slot influenced by the popularity of ¡ÈHarry Potter¡É since 2000. However, the change of the naming trend in Britain is not as rapid as Japan, and it is a rather big cycle changing with each decade.
2006 Top 10 baby names
|
Then, why are Japanese names not only following a cycle of its boom, but also changing their forms?
A Japanese name is a combination of 2~4 (sometimes 5) Hiragana or Kanji, and you can freely combine those characters although there are some set patterns. That means, in the case of the combination of three Hiragana, there should be more than 160000 patterns (55 x 55 x 55).? Because it is also possible to choose different combination of kanji for the same sound (like ¡È¹°»Ò¡É, ¡È¹À»Ò¡É, ¡È´²»Ò¡É, ¡È¹¨»Ò¡É for the same sound ¡Èhiroko¡É), the possibilities are pretty much unlimited.
But it does not mean that it is completely free to combine any characters. It is usually avoided to use bad sounded combination and some kanji with negative meanings. Some Japanese also care about the number of strokes in the characters. Traditionally, it is believed that the number of strokes in one¡Çs name would influence one¡Çs luck (Engi). This is not essential but it is said 40% of Japanese parents still consider the number of strokes when they name their babies.
On the other hand, according to the Babycentre, the top tips for naming babies in the U.K, other than sounds and meanings, are checking their initials don¡Çt spell anything silly and thinking about how the name might be shortened. It sounds interesting to us, Japanese people, because in Japan it is less common to care about initials and nicknames when we name our children.
For new-born babies, their names are the first gifts from their parents. The common thing in all cultures and in all ages, is that the baby names are the tokens of love from their parents which are full of their wishes for their babies¡Ç happiness.
References¡§
Baby names ranking 2006 Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company http://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/profile/etc/ranking/
Babycentre http://www.babycentre.co.uk/
National Statistics Online http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
Bounty.com http://www.bounty.com/
To read in Japanese, click here(¤³¤Îµ»ö¤òÆüËܸì¤ÇÆɤà¡Ë
Backnumbers¡¡| UK-JAPAN Homepage¡ÃFebruary Feature No.1 | Previous Features
