Japanese Boys' Names

Until this list is finished, please take it with a grain of salt. Japanese boys' name lists are larded with names of historical and literary figures whose names are dead and gone. (Japanese names, unlike European names, are not evergreen; after a few generations, most names are as outdated as Hermenegart or Caradoc.) I've grayed out questionable names until I can verify that they're still in use.

If there are multiple variations on a name, they're listed under their plain form or their -o form.

Birth Order Names

Until a generation or two ago, the most popular class of boys' names were birth order names: Taro (first), Jiro (second), Saburo (third), Shiro (fourth), Goro (fifth). Taro got so much play that it's a generic suffix for "boy" now. All of these names are now far, far out of style, though you might see them used as suffixes.

Suffixes

-dai, "big"
-e, "bay"
-goro, "fifth son"
-hei, "peace"
-hiro, "wise"
-jiro, "second son"
-ki, "tree"
-ko, "child"
-o, "generation"
-maru, "valuable" (formerly a popular suffix for samurai boys' childhood names)
-masa
-ro
-shiro, "fourth son"
-suke, "help"
-ta, "great," or sometimes "well built" (probably refers to solidity and permanence rather than a six-pack)
-taro, "first son," or simply "boy"
-to, "person"
-ya
-yoshi

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Trends in Japanese Baby Names - Also includes a comprehensive list of names.

Japanese Name Gender Finder - A loooooong list of girls', boys' and family names.

Japanese Names - A short list of boys' and girls' names with meanings and kanji.

Japanese name @ Wikipedia - The history and structure of Japanese names.

New options raise the stakes in the "Name that Baby" game - A Japan Times article about the addition of new kanji to the jinmei kanji, the list of kanji permitted for use in names.

For more names, or for kanji spellings, go to the Japanese <-> English Dictionary Server. You may have a hard time picking out the spelling that corresponds to the name's meaning because the Japanese play a sort of literary game with names. Any kanji whose reading fits the sound of the name can be substituted for the original kanji, with extra points given for piquant new meanings. For example, Shishiwakamaru, the bloodthirsty swordsman of Yu Yu Hakusho, is named shishi (lion), waka (young), -maru (a common suffix for samurai boys' names). However, Shishi is written not with the "lion" kanji, but with a doubled kanji that means "death" (shi), so his name appears to mean "death-death-young-maru." Native speakers know that "death-death" is a kanji pun for "lion."

Therefore, when you go to the dictionary server, you'll find that many names have several, even dozens of, spellings. If you can't figure out which combination of kanji is the name's original meaning, just pick the prettiest and go with it.