Random Japanese Name Generator

The Random Japanese Name Generator pairs a Japanese given name with a common Japanese surname and shows the result in both kanji and romaji, along with what the given name means. Ask for one name or up to fifteen at once, and copy any of them with the button on its card. It's a small, honest tool: 20 given names and 10 surnames, all real and all common, rather than a huge list of syllables glued together.

How it works

Enter a number from 1 to 15 and press Generate Japanese Name. For each name the tool picks a given name and a surname independently and at random, so with 20 given names and 10 surnames there are 200 possible combinations. Repeats within one batch are possible, especially if you ask for fifteen. Each card shows the kanji, the romanized form in parentheses, and a one-line meaning for the given name. The copy button copies the whole line, for example "桜 山本 (Sakura Yamamoto)".

Note the display order: the card prints the given name first, then the surname, which is the Western order Japanese people use when writing their names in English. In Japanese itself the family name comes first, so Sakura Yamamoto would introduce herself as Yamamoto Sakura.

The names in the list

The 10 surnames are the ten most common family names in Japan, which together cover several million people: Sato is absent, but Suzuki (鈴木), Takahashi (高橋), Tanaka (田中), Watanabe (渡辺), Yamamoto (山本), Nakamura (中村), Kobayashi (小林), Kato (加藤), Yoshida (吉田) and Yamada (山田) are all here. They are the kind of surnames a Japanese novel or drama uses for an everyday character.

The 20 given names are a mix of traditionally male, traditionally female and unisex names, each with the meaning of its kanji:

There is no gender filter. If you need a male or female Japanese name specifically, generate a batch of ten or fifteen and pick from the table above. The "Usually" column is a guide, not a rule; Japanese given names are more flexible about gender than most English ones, and a name like Yuki or Aoi is given to boys and girls alike.

How Japanese names are built

A Japanese name has two parts, family name then given name, and both are normally written in kanji. The same kanji can be read several ways and the same sound can be written with different kanji, which is why parents choose a name partly for its sound and partly for the characters' meaning. Haruki, for instance, is 春樹 (spring tree) here, but it could equally be written 晴輝 (clear brilliance). The meanings on the cards are for the specific kanji shown, not for every possible spelling of the romaji.

Endings carry a lot of information. -ko (子, child) and -mi (美, beauty) are classic feminine endings, as in Yoshiko and Naomi. -ta (太) and -shi (志 or 史) lean masculine, as in Kenta and Takashi. Nature words such as sakura, yuki and haru show up across both.

Ways people use it

• Fiction and manga scripts. Naming background characters or a protagonist's classmates with plausible, common names instead of exotic ones.
• Game characters and usernames. A quick kanji-and-romaji pairing for an RPG character sheet or a handle. If you want the surname alone, the Random Last Name Generator covers many cultures.
• Language study. Reading the kanji on each card and checking it against the romaji is a decent kanji drill for beginners.
• Placeholder data. Realistic Japanese names for a form or database mockup where "Test User" would look wrong.

For a Western counterpart with the same one-click feel, try the German Name Generator or the Austrian Name Generator; for names that work for any gender, the Unisex Name Generator. Browse all name generators for the full set.