Japanese Female Names

I’m planning to get a Japanese Akita puppy. (Yes, I’ll post a picture soon.)

She’s “red”, which means fox like in coloring, with white tips on her nose, feet.

She’s happy, and playful, and inquisitive, and smart.

I’d like to give her a Japanese name. Any suggestions?

I have to rule out Michi, because we’ve already had that name in the family.

Akako.

Momo is always good. It means “peach”. Not exactly close to “red” but it’s cute regardless. Toshiko is for “clever girl”. And I always kinda liked Kohaku, which means “amber”. Anything with “ko” on the end is pretty good because it’s a cute diminutive - implies they’re like a little kid.

A girl’s name starting with “Aka” would give a connotation of red or copper colors. Some examples are: Akane [Ah-kah-ney] and Akari [Ah-kah-ree]

Just so you know, the -ko ending is common for girl’s name. It’s a diminutive, like -ette. The kanji is the kanji for “child”.

Americans might find that practice offensive, so you might want to avoid it. Akita’s aren’t small dogs, But then, she is a dog, so maybe no harm.

If you don’t mind the -ko ending, I always liked the name Akiko. I had a good friend with that name many years ago.

If you want to reference the white flecks, the affixes “shiro” and “haku” are common for meaning white. For example “Shiromi” or “Kohaku” (literally “read and white”).

According to this web page: 【2023年最新版】犬の名前、男女別人気ランキング!アメリカやフランス、外国で人気の名前も - pepy

the most popular Japanese female dog names in Japan are: Hana (flower), Koume (small plum), Sora (sky), Hime (princess), Anzu (plum), Chacha (tea or jest), Mugi (wheat), Kohaku (amber) and Koharu (spring).

And if the dog turns out to be a bit of a hassle, you could call it Ahoko.

If that’s 紅子, the more common ways to read that are Beniko and Kohko.

There’s always Kawaii, too.

I know about the -ko as a diminutive. We used to call our Michi, Michiko. I’m not sure I understand why the “ko” ending would be problematic for Americans?

I’ve had American Akitas, and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to have a Japanese Akita. There are some significant differences.

I like Akiko, Toshiko, Kohaku, Akari.

I’m still rolling them all over though. I look for names that won’t be too similar to the names of anyone else in the household or immediate family, names that don’t sound like other training terms, and names that I can pronounce. :stuck_out_tongue:

You also want a name that doesn’t sound like a curse word when you are calling her. Turns out when you are calling “Basso” it sounds like “asshole”.

Miko. My Siamese female is Meeko. I like Ichigo, I am told that is Strawberry in Japanese. I will not argue if someone knows better than me.

I was going to suggest Akari. I found a site with popular girls names. Akari was the 13th most popular last year.

Make sure to pronounce the “ri” close to the “tty” in “Betty” if you pronounce that with an unvoiced “d” sound.

Ringo means apple in Japanese (which is why Ringo Starr did applesauce commercials in Japan in the 1970s).

Other nice Japanese girl names are: Keiko (Kay-ko) which means happy; Yaeno (Y eye-ay-no) which means blessed; & Mari (Mar-eeee), which means truth.

I will practice my "r"s. Thank you for the reminder. :slight_smile: I know french, spanish and german "r"s. This sounds different yet. :slight_smile:

Too late for the edit, but Aka (Ah-kah) means red, Shiro (She-to) means white, Pinku means pink, & of course Aka-to-Shiro means red & white. Shiroi Ashi means white paws (but is not a girls name in Japan).

No-one’s going for Yoko then? Oh, no.

John did. oh, yeah!