Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the issue of gender-neutral names in the context of Japanese naming practices and, based on an analysis of 15,058 names of children born 2008–2022, it offers a closer look at the phonological and graphic forms of names that have been recently used for both sexes.

Paper long abstract:

Despite Japan’s anchoring in its traditions, recent developments in the selection of given names are quite dynamic. Contemporary Japanese names bear witness to the growing emphasis on individuality and uniqueness (Kobayashi 2009, Makino 2012) and also show changes in relation to gender (Satō 2007, Barešová 2020). They are characterized by a great variety of sound and structure patterns, often with a discordant character-sound relationship, and increasingly lacking gender-distinctive features.

Names used for both sexes are by no means a new phenomenon in Japan. However, unlike in the past, now even some of the most popular names are bestowed upon children of both sexes. The top 100 baby boy and baby girl names of 2021 (based on 115,687 names) published by the parenting platform Baby Calendar featured 13 names that ranked in both lists. The 2022 ranking includes even 19 such names. While these names are gender-neutral in their phonological form, they may still be gender-specific in their graphic form. In public discourse, especially on parenting websites, such names are often referred to as “gender-neutral names for boys” and “gender-neutral names for girls”. In addition, there are recently popular names that are gender-neutral only in their graphic form, and also names that are truly genderless.

This paper addresses the issue of gender-neutral names in the context of Japanese naming practices and offers some insight into the origin and nature of names that have been recently used for both sexes. It is based on a linguistic analysis of 256 unique phonological and 333 unique graphic forms of names given to both sexes. These were identified among 15,058 names collected from the Baby Calendar name-selection stories published between 2008 and 2022.

Baby Calendar. https://baby-calendar.jp/. Accessed 10 Oct. 2022.

Barešová, I. 2020. Boy or Girl? The Rise of Non-Gender-Specific Names in Japan. Silva Iaponicarum 56–59: 26–41.

Kobayashi, Y. 2009. Nazuke no sesōshi. “Koseiteki na namae” o fīrudowāku. Tōkyō: Fūkyōsha.

Makino, K. 2012. Kodomo no namae ga abunai. Tōkyō: Besuto serāzu.

Satō, M. 2007. Yominikui namae wa naze fueta ka. Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan.