"Ao" and "Rin" are 2024's most popular names for babies born in Japan, according to a survey by Tamahiyo, a brand for babies and new mothers.
The survey looked at about 260,000 baby names registered by users of Tamahiyo's services, born between January and September this year.
The name "Ao," sometimes read as "Aoi," is the most popular name for boys. Ao uses a kanji — the Japanese characters used in names — that means "blue green."
For girls, "Rin" has become the most popular name for the first time in 15 years. It uses the Japanese character that means "crisp" or "cool."
Both "Ao" and "Rin" were the second most popular names in 2023. Interestingly, both are gender-neutral names, meaning they can be used for girls or boys.
Names with just one Japanese character are becoming more popular, and all three of the most popular boys' names use just one kanji.
Rioko Kurihara, who studies the meanings of names for Tamahiyo, believes this is 다이렉트암보험비교 because there were many successful athletes with one-character names this year.
For example, the name "Ran" was outside the top 100 in 2023. But it jumped up to 39th place for boys and 71st for girls this year, likely because of popular Olympic men's volleyball player Ran Takahashi.
Many parents are also choosing names that mean "calm" or "strong." Kurihara says this may be because Japan had many natural disasters in 2024, so parents hope their children will grow up strong.