How popular is the baby name Aoto in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Aoto.

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Popularity of the baby name Aoto


Posts that mention the name Aoto

Top baby names in Japan, 2023

Flag of Japan
Flag of Japan

The East Asian island nation of Japan, the 11th most populous country in the world, is currently experiencing population decline due to a low birth rate. Last year, Japan welcomed just 770,747 babies. This year, the count will likely be even lower.

Japan doesn’t release official baby name rankings, but the most popular names in the country right now include Himari and Ema for girls, and Ao and Haruto for boys.

How do we know this?

Because, every year, two Japanese companies — Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company and Benesse Corporation — come up with unofficial baby name rankings for Japan using their own data (i.e., the names of the newborns of their own customers/clients).

  • Meiji Yasuda Life’s 2023 rankings account for 6,951 baby girls and 6,957 baby boys born in Japan from January to September, 2023.
  • Benesse’s 2023 rankings account for 141,857 baby girls and 143,259 baby boys born in Japan from January 1 to September 27, 2023.

Each company releases two sets of rankings, in fact.

Why two? Because Japanese names, written using kanji (Chinese characters), are notoriously difficult to read; many have multiple potential pronunciations. So the companies rank baby names both as they’re written and as they’re said aloud (“readings”).

Below you’ll find a whopping eight sets of rankings. They account for two genders, two sources, and two ways of judging popularity: written vs. readings. (I had to turn the rankings into images because my blogging software can’t handle Chinese and Japanese characters.)


Girl names (written)

According to Meiji Yasuda Life, these are Japan’s top girl names. Common readings are in parentheses.

Japan's top baby girl names of 2023, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

[The readings are: Himari, Hinata, Hina; Rin; Tsumugi; Yua, Yuna; Yuina, Yuna; Mio; Mei; Koharu; Hina, Haruna; Ema; Sui, Midori; Yuzuki; Ai, Mana; and Iroha.]


According to Benesse, these are Japan’s top girl names. Benesse also offered each name’s most common reading (transcription in parentheses).

Japan's top baby girl names of 2023, according to Benesse

[The readings are: Himari, Rin, Sui, Tsumugi, Yuina, Hina, Mei, Aoi, Yua, and Riko.]


Girl names (readings)

According to Meiji Yasuda Life, these are Japan’s top girl-name readings:

Japan's top baby girl name readings of 2023, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

[The readings are: Ema, Tsumugi, Mio, Sana, Mei, Koharu, Rio, Ichika, Himari, and Rin.]


According to Benesse, these are Japan’s top girl-name readings:

Japan's top baby girl name readings of 2023, according to Benesse

[The readings are: Ema, Tsumugi, Sana, Mio, Mei, Koharu, Rio, Yui, Aoi, and Himari.]


Boy names (written)

According to Meiji Yasuda Life, these are Japan’s top boy names. Common readings are in parentheses.

Japan's top baby boy names of 2023, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

[The readings are: Ao, Aoi; Haruto, Hinato; Dan, Haru; Ritsu; Aoi, So, Ao; Soma, Fuma; Ren; Nagi, Nagisa; Minato; and Minato.]


According to Benesse, these are Japan’s top boy names. Benesse also offered each name’s most common reading (transcription in parentheses).

Japan's top baby boy names of 2023, according to Benesse

[The readings are: Ren, Ao, Haruto, Minato, Aoi, Asahi, Nagi, Minato, Dan, and Ritsu.]


Boy names (readings)

According to Meiji Yasuda Life, these are Japan’s top boy-name readings:

Japan's top baby boy name readings of 2023, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

[The readings are: Haruto, Minato, Yuito, Aoto, Riku, Sota, Sora, Aoi, So, and Haruki.]


According to Benesse, these are Japan’s top boy-name readings:

Japan's top baby boy name readings of 2023, according to Benesse

[The readings are: Haruto, Minato, Aoto, Riku, Yuito, Sota, Haruki, Sora, Hinata, and Aoi.]


The boy names Ao and Ritsu were given a boost in 2023 by soccer players Ao Tanaka and Ritsu Doan, both of whom helped Japan’s national football team advance during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The names Tsumugi (female), Minato (male), and So/Sou (male) also rose in the rankings. They correspond to the names of characters on the popular drama/romance series Silent, which aired in Japan from October to December, 2022.

Finally, here’s a link to Japan’s unofficial 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare this year to last year.

P.S. Though none of the names above would be considered kira-kira names — that is, names with highly unorthodox readings — an increasing number of Japanese babies have been given kira-kira names over the last few decades. (Two examples are Girisha and Torino, bestowed by Japanese athlete/politician Seiko Hashimoto in the early 2000s.) Japan recently decided to crack down on the usage of kira-kira names: a law change “will limit readings of the kanji in children’s names to those ‘generally recognizable by society.'”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Japan (public domain)

The top boy-name debuts of 2017

lotus bud

Asahd was the top debut name on the boys’ side of the list in 2017.

The boy names that debuted most impressively last year were…

1. Asahd, 58 baby boys
2. Kashdon, 30
3. Kassian, 22
4. Draxler / Ikeni / Noctis, 17 each (3-way tie)
5. Dakston, 13

In order for a rare baby name to make the cut and appear in the SSA’s baby name data for the first time, it has to be given to at least 5 babies (of either one gender or the other) within a given year.

The other names that debuted with ten-or-more baby boys in 2017 were Amunra, Arjunreddy, Irtaza, Ledgen, Gurbaaz, Caspen, Meliodas, Sreyan, Tewodros, and Yeziel.

Debuts lower down on the list include: Aarushreddy, Imronbek, Benjen, Kadafi, Killiam, Agambir, Almighty, Bamlak, Kuiper, Munther, Owsley, Slayer, Tolkien, Tuguldur, Vandawt, Zage, Zealous, Aoto, Bender, Bodhisattva, Cerulean, Go.

If you know what the explanations are for any of them, please leave a comment!

Here are the top boy name debuts of 2016.

[Note: I’ll be updating this post throughout the day.]

Source: SSA

Image: Adapted from LotusBud0048a (public domain) by Frank “Fg2” Gualtieri