Japanese Names Database is a free, English-language reference to Japanese family names and given names — the kanji they are written with, how they are read, and what they mean. It is built for English speakers who meet these names in anime, fiction, genealogy, or everyday life and cannot read the Japanese-language sources that describe them.
Japanese names carry meaning that disappears the moment they are written in the Latin alphabet. Sato tells an English reader nothing; 佐藤 tells a Japanese reader "wisteria". This site puts the kanji, the reading, and the meaning side by side in English so that the sense of a name survives the crossing.
Entries are compiled from publicly available Japanese-language name references. We are currently adding a source citation and a reference date to every ranking figure on this site; until an entry carries one, please treat its ranking as approximate. Where we cannot verify a figure, we mark it as unverified rather than guess.
If an entry is wrong, we want to know. Reports of incorrect readings, meanings, or rankings are welcome through our Contact page and are checked against a source before we change anything.
Japanese Names Database is an independent project and is not affiliated with any Japanese government agency, registry, or official organization. Naming practice varies by family and by region, and the same kanji can be read in more than one way — the readings given here are the common ones, not the only ones. While we strive for accuracy, we make no warranties about the completeness or timeliness of the information provided.