Vocaloid Baby Boom: Miku, Rin, Ren Names Popular

Eyebrows have been raised at the steady rise in popularity several potentially Vocaloid inspired names have enjoyed in Japan’s baby naming; Ren (ranked 4th), Rin (7th), Kaito (13th) and most notably Miku (up to 24th from 50th last year).

You can see the results below:

(Duplicate names are due to different characters being used)

Girls:

1. Aoi
2. Yui
3. Hina
4. Rin
5. Yua
6. Yuia
7. Miu
8. Sakura
9. Miyu
10. Nanami
11. Misaki
12. Yuuna
13. Yui
14. Mio
15. Miyu
16. Yuuka
17. Kokoa
18. Kanon
19. Riko
20. Miyu
21. Mizuki
22. Yuuna
23. Airi
24. Hinata
25. Miku

Some of these names may look like ita-names, but are probably the other way round. Quite a few characters crop up called “Rin”, so collectively some effect may be possible.

In the case of Miku, it seems an effect is quite plausible as the name has ascended 25 places in one year, nearly doubling, whilst the non-Vocaloid spelling of the name (though it is written in katakana) has remained steady.

Still, it was popular in prior years too… Let us not be hasty.

Boys:

1. Hiroto
2. Ren
3. Yuuto
4. Yuuto
5. Yuuto
6. Shouta (Shota)
7. Yamato
8. Souta
9. Yuuma
10. Sora
11. Haruto
12. Haruto
13. Shou
14. Daiki
15. Yuuta
16. Takumi
17. Yuuta
18. Hinata
19. Kaito
20. Tsubasa
21. Yuuto
22. Yuuki
23. Haruto
24. Rikuto
25. Eita

As usual a fairly boring set of male names, which might benefit from less over usage of -ta and -to. Likely -rou is not included here, because it is a suffix, with the same being true of -ko.

Kaito and Hayate also make appearances further down the list, though otherwise, save “Shota” and Ren, there aren’t a great deal of interesting ita-names.

You are doubtless familiar with strange, and sometime irresponsible names being used more frequently in recent years, with quite a pronounced effect visible in western English speaking areas. We might take the above tables with a grain of salt, but we hear on 2ch of school registers including such delightful names as “Mariririn” and “Miruku” (Milk)…

The original tables (previous year’s ranking is displayed too), from here:

Vocaloid Baby Boom: Miku, Rin, Ren Names Popular
Vocaloid Baby Boom: Miku, Rin, Ren Names Popular

The usual mass media statistical disclaimers apply: they haven’t disclosed their source/sample as clearly as we might like, though they do have four years of data, and apparently the data covers 40,000 names so it sounds quite reasonable.


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    Comment by Anonymous
    03:45 12/12/2008 # ! Neutral (+0.2)

    6. Shouta (Shota)

    Needs help in finding names they do.

    Comment by Anonymous
    22:43 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    "Mike" and "Ryan" are analalgous to "Yuuto" and "Shota". I lol'ed when I thought about it.

    Comment by 5p.
    22:48 12/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    I always got the impression that Shouta is just a really generic sort of name. But Ren at #2 is kind of a surprise.

    Highly recommended: http://dqname.jp . Yes, there are people named Hamtarou, Futanari, and Anaru. Not sure how many of those are fake, but...

    Comment by 5p.
    22:55 12/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Oh, forgot. The one that wins the jackpot, though, has to be "Diana". Sounds normal? Not when the kanji used are "dai" (big) "ana" (hole)...

    Comment by Anonymous
    02:12 02/12/2011 # ! Neutral (0)

    I'm surprised Azusa isn't on the list.

    Avatar of Wallace Hunter
    Comment by Wallace Hunter
    04:16 24/11/2010 # ! Neutral (0)

    I knew a kid named Kaito. He's like 10 now.

    Comment by Amuris
    17:04 16/08/2009 # ! Neutral (0)

    I thought the story was beautiful. I think it's great but it could have been worse. My niece likes the nickname "Yazmin" which sounds like the star of some bad 3d trap porn.

    Avatar of fatimmortal
    Comment by fatimmortal
    10:13 20/04/2009 # ! Neutral (0)

    Where's Mizugi?

    Comment by Nyoronoru
    14:08 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    I approve of this naming trend.

    Avatar of EndohMimi
    Comment by Mimi
    13:28 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    And my name moves up to 11th. -__-; Stupid parents... what were they thinking? >.>;

    Comment by Anonymous
    11:36 10/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    I couldn't begin to guess, Misaki.

    Avatar of maxchain
    Comment by maxchain
    03:01 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    I'm more interested in the headline image (again). Is this Miku's final stage, with souped-up machinery and sudden MILF-like appearance?

    Comment by Maximo
    02:37 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Kokoa...
    Miruku...

    Like that? => http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9700/sklgks5.jpg

    Comment by kuromitsu
    02:27 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Kokoa?! O_o At the 17th place? Poor children, nobody will ever take them seriously in life... (And the kanji don't help, they just make it even more lame.)

    Avatar of alex1_phang3
    Comment by alex1_phang3
    01:44 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Girl's name : Kanon . . .

    Boy's name : Hinata . . . O.o

    Avatar of Onsokumaru
    Comment by Onsokumaru
    03:41 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Is Vocaloid so popular in Japan that adults love it enough to name their children based on it?

    Also lol at Hinata being a boys name.

    Comment by Aesshen
    03:48 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Whose eyebrows? I think it's a lot more likely that Vocaloid just features popular names because it's being written currently, or recently. Ren has been a top name in Japan for years and years now. The others all just fit naming trends. Look, trends in character names and baby names dovetail nicely - not least because to a creator, the character is like a child.

    Also, Kokoa is like the Mackenzie of Japan or something. Just so vulgar.

    Comment by Anonymous
    11:38 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    You should see what Americans name their children...

    Comment by Anonymous
    04:06 12/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Indeed, although there isn't five ways to say the same name. And if there is, only one or two of the variations are popular.

    Avatar of blazefreak
    Comment by mark
    09:05 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    3. Yuuto
    4. Yuuto
    5. Yuuto

    lol sad day to have a romanji name

    Comment by kenjiharima
    06:44 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Kokoa from Rosario+Vampire? O_O; and Shouta...man everytime I hear shouta it reminds me of shotacons. also why are there 2 Yui's?

    Comment by Anonymous
    03:57 09/12/2008 # ! Neutral (0)

    Wow, popular male names in Japan suck ass. I'm amazed at how many ways they can make the same name with different characters. Four to say Yuuto, wtf.



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