Comments on: How to Give Your Baby a Japanese Name

on 11/22/2005 While those are some nice names, a lot of them are not actually names, they are words. Rei and Sen and Ken are good names, though.

Try these names:
Kisa (for girls) - Kee-sah
Nabiki (for girls) - Nah-bee-kee
Ayumi (for girls) - Aye-ooh-mee
Arisa (for girls) - Ah-ree-sah
Keiko (for girls) - Kay-koh

Hiroshi (for boys) - Hee-roh-shee
Amon (for boys) - Ay-mohn (my name)
Akito (for boys) - Ah-kee-toh
Masa (for boys) - Mah-saa
Toshio (for boys) - Toh-shee-oh

on 11/22/2005 Don't give your child a Japanese name unless you know the language and can pick the name from a Japanese baby name book (and you can pronounce the name correctly). Most of the names listed here are not really names, they are words, and many of them do not have correct meanings listed.

If you want an International-sounding name, that will be appropriate in both Japanese and English, consider:
Girls: Naomi, Erika, Risa (Lisa), Rina (Lina), Arisa (Alyssa), Maria, Mari (Mary/Marie). Such names are increasingly popular in Japan these days. And it saves the problem of having a girl named Sakura always being called Sackerra in America.
Boys: Ken is the only one I can think of that works in both languages. Dan works well in Japanese, but is not a Japanese name. Rick/Riku works as well.

Choosing a Japanese name is complicated, and many parents will make up their own name. Choose the characters for it very carefully.

on 11/22/2005 For girls, the name Naomi is a good name that is found in BOTH Japanese and English.

For boys, the name Ken is both a Japanese and English name.