Are you having a baby in Japan? Choosing a name can be hard. You don’t want to have a Japanese-only name – but most English names don’t work in Japanese either.
In this blog, we list some names and their pronunciations that can work in both Japanese and English. Still, if you are looking for a name for your baby that will be easy to pronounce and “normal” in both English and Japanese, you will find that girl names are more commonly found in this intersection.
Japanese and English Girl Names
| Japanese Name | English Version |
|---|---|
| はな | Hanna |
| えりか | Erika |
| りさ | Lisa |
| まりえ | Marie |
| なおみ | Naomi |
| さら | Sara |
| めぐ | Meg |
| あんな | Anna |
| えり | Elly |
| あん | Ann |
| えりな | Erina |
| まりな Marina | Marina |
| えいみ | Amy |
| えみり | Emily |
| かれん | Karen |
| じゅん | June |
| えりん | Erin |
Japanese and English Boy Names
Although there is a smaller selection of boys’ names to choose from, there are still several options.
| Japanese Name | English Version |
|---|---|
| じょうじ | George |
| けん | Ken |
| けい | Kay |
| じん | Gene |
| りく | Rick |
| れい | Ray |
| るい | Louis |
| べん | Ben |
One important thing to note is that there are definitely other names out there – but we chose to include the most commonly used names that have almost 1-1 direct equivalents.