How popular is the baby name Yamato 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 Yamato.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Yamato


Posts that mention the name Yamato

Top baby names in Japan, 2022

Flag of Japan
Flag of Japan

The island country of Japan, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, welcomed 770,747 babies in 2022.

As far as I know, Japan has never released an official set of baby name rankings. But Japan’s top baby names of 2022 might be Himari and Ao, if two unofficial sets of rankings are to be believed.

The two sets of rankings were put out by a pair of Japanese companies that used their own data (i.e., the names of the newborns of their own customers/clients) to guess which baby names were the most popular in Japan last year.

  • Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company’s 2022 baby name rankings (in Japanese) account for 8,561 baby girls and 8,952 baby boys born in Japan from January to September, 2022.
  • Benesse Corporation’s 2022 baby name rankings (in Japanese) account for 148,103 baby girls and 149,152 baby boys born in Japan from January 1 to September 27, 2022.

These rankings aren’t exactly representative: the samples are self-selected, the last quarter of the year is entirely omitted, etc. Nevertheless, they’re fun to check out. And I think it’s significant that they agree on the #1 girl name.

Because both companies rank names as they’re written — and each of these written forms tends to have multiple pronunciations — I had to create images of the rankings (because my blogging software can’t handle kanji/kana characters). So, in the images below, the written forms are on the left, and their most common readings(s) are on the right.

Let’s start with Meiji Yasuda’s list.

Girl Names (Meiji)

Top girl names in Japan in 2022, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

(Himari, Hinata, Hina; Rin; Uta; Hina, Haruna; Yuina, Yuna; An, Anzu; Mio, Rei; Yua; Mei; Riko; Sakura; Ema.)

Boy Names (Meiji)

Top boy names in Japan in 2022, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

(Aoi, So, Ao; Nagi, Nagisa; Ren; Haruto, Hinato; Minato; Soma, Fuma; Ao, Aoi; Itsuki, Tatsuki; Yamato; Yuma, Haruma; Dan, Haru.)

And now, Benesse.

Girl Names (Benesse)

Top girl names in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

(Himari, Rin, Yuina, Mei, Uta, Hina, Aoi, Riko, Tsumugi, Ema.)

Boy Names (Benesse)

Top boy names in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

(Ao, Haruto, Aoi, Asahi, Ren, Minato, Yuito, Yuma, Hinata, Itsuki.)

Benesse also noted that several tiger-related boy names saw higher usage in 2022, which was a Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac.

Tiger-related boy names that saw higher usage in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

Taiga sounds like the English word “tiger,” while Kotaro can include the kanji character that means “tiger.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Japan (public domain)

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]

Japanese names getting harder to read

Yesterday I read an informative article about Japanese name trends. The part I found most interesting was…

[A] further headache awaiting many babies as they grow up is that an increasing number of parents are exploiting a loophole in the law that fails to dictate how kanji in names are to be read and pronounced using kana.

Since most kanji can convey numerous meanings, and so be read in numerous ways, parents trying to make their offspring stand out are opting for unconventional ways in kana to read the kanji used for their name. Consequently, they are often anointing them with a name that, when read in kanji, others can only guess at.

In other words, a single name (written down) can morph into multiple names (when said aloud). One popular boy name, for example, can be read as Hiroto, Haruto, Yamato, Daito, Taiga, Sora, Taito, Daito or Masato. Last year’s most popular girl name can be read as Hina, Haruna, Hinata, Yua, Yuua, Yuina or Yume.

Because Japan does not have a custom of putting kana alongside people’s kanji names in many official records, including the family register, this has caused untold confusion and has led to mistakes being made in identifying people by government officials, teachers and so on.

Yet some parents have taken the quest for uniqueness even further by assigning names whose kana pronunciation cannot even be guessed by anyone not told what it is.

This rarely happens with English names, but I do know of one case: a nurse friend of mine told me about a newborn baby girl named Cindy whose mother insisted the name was pronounced “Sidney.” Or perhaps it was Sidney pronounced “Cindy” — I can’t remember. Regardless, the written and spoken forms didn’t match up.

One more quote from the article:

Another consideration for the Toriis, as for many other parents in Japan, was to use kanji that would not involve too many strokes, because if they chose ones that were too heavy-looking, or congested, it would be time-consuming to write in school exams, which would leave less time for the child to tackle the questions.

I bet some English-speaking parents have bestowed short names for the same reason — potential academic edge, however slight.

Source: Otake, Tomoko. “What to call baby?” Japan Times 22 Jan. 2012.