Names by country
Japanese names for characters
Popular Japanese first names by birth decade, common and regional surnames, pronunciation, and the naming rules writers trip over.
How Japanese names work
In Japan the family name comes first (Tanaka Haruto); English-language contexts often reverse it. There are no middle names. The same name can be written with many different kanji, and the choice carries its own meaning. Japanese has no strong stress: say each syllable evenly.
Name order. Family name first in Japan (Tanaka Haruto). English-language media now often keep this order too, but many books and Western forms flip it to Haruto Tanaka. Pick one and stay consistent.
Middle names. No middle names in Japan. Don't invent one.
First names by birth decade
Names drift in and out of fashion. Pick from the decade your character was born, not the year your story is set.
Born before 1950
Girls
- Kazuko
- Sachiko
- Setsuko
- Michiko
- Yōko
- Keiko
- Fumiko
- Hiroko
Boys
- Hiroshi
- Minoru
- Isamu
- Shigeru
- Takeshi
- Kiyoshi
- Osamu
- Masao
Born 1950–64
Girls
- Yōko
- Keiko
- Kyōko
- Yumiko
- Mayumi
- Naoko
- Michiko
- Junko
Boys
- Makoto
- Hiroshi
- Takashi
- Kenji
- Shigeru
- Osamu
- Yutaka
- Tetsuya
Born 1965–79
Girls
- Tomoko
- Yūko
- Naomi
- Kumiko
- Megumi
- Akiko
- Kaori
- Mayumi
Boys
- Makoto
- Daisuke
- Tetsuya
- Naoki
- Takuya
- Kazuya
- Hideki
- Masahiro
Born 1980–94
Girls
- Ai
- Mai
- Misaki
- Mayu
- Saki
- Ayaka
- Yuka
- Megumi
Boys
- Daisuke
- Shōta
- Takuya
- Kenta
- Tsubasa
- Yūta
- Kazuki
- Naoki
Born 1995–2009
Girls
- Misaki
- Aoi
- Yui
- Rin
- Miu
- Hina
- Sakura
- Nanami
Boys
- Shō
- Shōta
- Kaito
- Ren
- Haruto
- Yūki
- Riku
- Takumi
Born 2010 onward
Girls
- Himari
- Yui
- Mei
- Tsumugi
- Rin
- Mio
- Ema
- Sakura
Boys
- Haruto
- Ren
- Minato
- Sōta
- Yūto
- Riku
- Itsuki
- Yamato
Common Japanese surnames
- Satō
- Suzuki
- Takahashi
- Tanaka
- Watanabe
- Itō
- Yamamoto
- Nakamura
- Kobayashi
- Katō
- Yoshida
- Yamada
- Sasaki
- Yamaguchi
- Matsumoto
- Inoue
- Kimura
- Hayashi
- Shimizu
- Mori
- Abe
- Ikeda
- Hashimoto
- Ishikawa
Regional names
Where a character comes from inside Japan changes their surname, and sometimes their first name.
Okinawa
Okinawan surnames come from Ryukyuan place names and look unlike mainland ones. Higa and Kinjō are the most common.
Surnames: Higa, Kinjō, Ōshiro, Miyagi, Shimabukuro, Tamashiro, Arakaki, Chinen, Nakandakari, Yonamine
Questions
What are common Japanese surnames?
Some of the most common Japanese surnames are Satō, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, Watanabe, Itō. Regional surnames differ, so check the regional lists before choosing one for a character from a particular area.
How do Japanese names work?
In Japan the family name comes first (Tanaka Haruto); English-language contexts often reverse it. There are no middle names. The same name can be written with many different kanji, and the choice carries its own meaning. Japanese has no strong stress: say each syllable evenly. Family name first in Japan (Tanaka Haruto). English-language media now often keep this order too, but many books and Western forms flip it to Haruto Tanaka. Pick one and stay consistent. No middle names in Japan. Don't invent one.
Build a Japanese character in one tap
InkBorn gives them a name from the right decade, a face card, a background, a personality and even their social media handles.