If you go to Japan, there\u2019s a chance you might meet someone with an unusual name \u2013 such as \u201cNike,\u201d \u201cPikachu\u201d or \u201cPudding.\u201d <\/p>\n
While still a minority, these names have grown in popularity over recent decades as parents reject traditional Japanese names for something more unique. <\/p>\n
But the practice has also drawn criticism \u2013 mainly that it\u2019s confusing for hospitals, schools and authorities who don\u2019t know how to pronounce them. <\/p>\n
Now the government is cracking down on these so-called \u201ckirakira\u201d names, which means sparkly or shiny. New rules came into effect on Monday that will limit parents from giving their babies names pronounced in unconventional ways. <\/p>\n
The news was met with mixed reactions; some social media users argued that kirakira names are an expression of individualism, that they\u2019re fairly harmless and don\u2019t warrant government regulation. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not children of the nation, right? They\u2019re children of their parents,\u201d one person wrote on X after the announcement. <\/p>\n
Many more, however, welcomed the change \u2013 lamenting that children with unusual names might face harassment, or at the very least complications in administrative tasks like registrations or banking. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do certain people put kirakira names on their kids? It just causes those kids to be bullied,\u201d one X user wrote. Another joked sarcastically: \u201cPlease stop restricting kirakira names. Seeing a child\u2019s name reveals the intelligence of their parents, which is helpful.\u201d <\/p>\n
Japan uses three writing systems \u2013 Kanji, which is based on Chinese characters, and two other phonetic systems. Names are typically written in Kanji, and this is where the trouble comes in. <\/p>\n
Because these Chinese characters were mixed with the existing Japanese language, each Kanji character can be pronounced multiple ways \u2013 some with ten or more ways. You decipher the \u201cright\u201d pronunciation based on context clues and the other characters in a sentence or phrase. <\/p>\n
In kirakira names, which became more popular from the 1980s onward, parents often choose a name based on the phonetic sound \u2013 wanting their child\u2019s name to sound like \u201cPikachu,\u201d for instance \u2013 and pick similar-sounding Kanji characters. <\/p>\n
The problem is that those characters might not usually be pronounced that way \u2013 making it hard, or impossible, for a teacher or nurse to decipher how to properly say a child\u2019s name just by looking at its written Kanji form. <\/p>\n
Some have drawn parallels to how American parents have, increasingly in the past decade, chosen unusual spellings for common names \u2013 such as Ashleigh instead of Ashley, or Catelynn instead of Caitlin. <\/p>\n
The Japanese government\u2019s new rules aim to limit this by mandating that only widely accepted pronunciations of kanji characters will be allowed. <\/p>\n
Parents will need to include the phonetic readings of their baby names in the registry \u2013 and if local officials see that the phonetic sound of a name doesn\u2019t match how its characters are typically pronounced, they may reject the name or request additional paperwork. <\/p>\n
This is not the first time strict naming rules have sparked debate in Japan. <\/p>\n
Japan still legally requires married couples to share the same surname, unlike most other major economies that have done away with the tradition. Normally, wives take their husband\u2019s name, since same-sex marriages aren\u2019t legal in Japan. <\/p>\n
A movement to change the rules around surnames has been brewing, led by women\u2019s rights advocates and those trying to preserve the diversity of Japanese surnames in a nation where a handful of names are becoming increasingly common. <\/p>\n
First names have afforded more room for experimentation \u2013 at least, until the latest rules came in. <\/p>\n
More and more people have been given unusual names in the last 40 years, according to a 2022 study that analyzed baby names published in local newsletters over the last few decades. <\/p>\n
The trend suggests a shift toward seeking \u201cuniqueness and independence\u201d in Japan, the study said \u2013 also seen in changes to other parts of Japanese life during that time like family structures and societal values. <\/p>\n
Girls in particular saw an increase in kirakira names, it added \u2013 perhaps suggesting that parents had a stronger \u201chope for their daughters to become unique and independent than for their sons.\u201d <\/p>\n
Japan isn\u2019t the only country that has seen an upward trend in unusual baby names. A 2016 study found that American parents picked more unusual names between 2004 and 2015, pointing to the culture\u2019s \u201cincreasing individualism.\u201d <\/p>\n
In China, too, rapid economic growth and upward mobility have meant people today value individualism and autonomy more than previous generations, according to a 2018 study \u2013 reflected in the steady rise of parents choosing unique characters in their babies\u2019 names. <\/p>\n
Like in Japan, the study found that Chinese girls were more likely to have unusual names than boys \u2013 perhaps reflecting different \u201cparental expectations.\u201d <\/p>\n
But it\u2019s also common for countries to have rules in place for what names are acceptable. In the US, this is often state-by-state; names in California can only use the 26 alphabetical characters of the English language, which briefly posed a problem when Elon Musk and Grimes named their baby \u201cX \u00c6 A-12.\u201d They eventually changed the name \u2013 very slightly \u2013 to \u201cX \u00c6 A-Xii.\u201d <\/p>\n
In Germany, authorities may strike down a baby name if they find it offensive or potentially harmful to the child\u2019s best interests. For example, they\u2019ve previously barred parents from using \u201cBorussia,\u201d a reference to a soccer team, or \u201cGastritis,\u201d arguing that the names would \u201cjeopardize the welfare of the child,\u201d according to the official Frankfurt city administration. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile New Zealand also maintains strict rules that include bans on references to titles, meaning names like \u201cKing\u201d and \u201cPrince\u201d are routinely rejected. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you go to Japan, there\u2019s a chance you might meet someone with an unusual name \u2013 such as \u201cNike,\u201d \u201cPikachu\u201d or \u201cPudding.\u201d While still a minority, these names have grown in popularity over recent decades as parents reject traditional Japanese names for something more unique. But the practice has also drawn criticism \u2013 mainly <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16761","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}