Japanese Names That Start With A: Boy, Girl & Last Names

Enamdict lists over 138,000 family names. For example aki can be written with a few kanji for autumn or crystal. I have hand-picked a list of Japanese names that start with A.

Japanese Boy Names That Start With A And Their Meanings:

Arashi

Arashi (A-RA-SHEE): “tempest.” It is also a boy band of five members that debuted under this moniker.

Akinori

It combines aki, bright, and nori, virtue, law.

Akitomo

“apparent”/“visible”/“wisdom”/“friend”

Akiyoshi

Symbolizing wise and blessed (秋良), Akiyoshi Kitaoka is a professor of psychology who has been referred to as “a master of optical art”.

Akitsugu

Second autumn 秋次 or luminous successor 昭次.

Amane

It has several meanings: sound of heaven and universally. Philosopher Nishi Amane (1829-1897) was involved in drafting the Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors.

Akihisa

Akihisa (Ah-kee-hee-sah) combines aki, shining, with hisa, centre.

Akio

Luminous hero or child of love

Aoto

It combines ao, “blue, green,” with to, a person.

Akinari

“To become clear.” Born Senjirō, Ueda Akinari (1734-1809) switched to this pseudonym in his late thirties, and his Ugetsu Monogatari, nine tales of ghosts and moonlight, later Mizoguchi Kenji’s film Ugetsu.

Akane

Deep red, a dye from the rubia plant. This is my favourite colour word on this list.

Akinobu

Akinobu is symbolizing ”manifest/prominent.”

Akihito

Emperor Akihito reigned for thirty years (1989-2019). His kanji is “luminous humanity”.

Ako

Second, as well as ancient, child, heart or lake.

Atsuo

温夫 warm husband

Akashi

“clear stone”.

Akiha

Akiha is second, hope and place in one go.

Akinosuke

Dawn assistance. In Lafcadio Hearn’s Kwaidan, an Akinosuke dreams about a whole kingdom.

Akifumi

“Dawn and ceremony,” or ‘clever chapter.’ Save

Amato

“sky and sea” in Japanese. As an Italian name Amato comes from the Latin amatus which means “to love”.

Arata

Fresh, new.

Akihide

Akihide is a combo of clever with “exemplary,” “hero” or “flourish,” and the dictionary I checked listed eight options for its first character.

Akahito

Red and “person.” Yamabe no Akahito is one of Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. His Mount Fuji seen from Tago Bay is on prints by Hiroshige.

Ayumu

Walk, dream.

Akitoshi

It comes from aki, clear, and toshi, wisdom, knowledge, intelligence for the combined meaning of “excellent and clear-minded”.

Akimitsu

輝 shine and 満 fullness.

Akeru

To dawn or grow light, and you know it also mean “to open” and even “to make room”

Atau

It isn’t common, but Atau means “to give” or “to bestow.” Save

Akihiko

Aki, bright, and hiko, boy, prince.

Asahi

Morning sun. I recommended it for a baby who is born at dawn, and it works for boys as well as for girls.

Aato

Japanese form of Arto and Art, with a doubled “second” and a person.

Atsuhiro

Precious, plentiful. There’s a second spelling that means “earnest and help.”

Annei

“Peace, tranquillity,”. Japan’s third emperor in legend and son of Suizei bears thsi name. Annei-tennō also though nobody can prove he lived at all.

Akinao

Here’s one for unique ones: illustrious hesitant.

Akiyasu

Autumn/protect.

Ayato

Colour and “person,” as in a man who brings colour to a room.

Akitake

Akitake is symbolizing martial autumn.

Atsuto

Atsuto (“sincere person”) Uchida is a footballer who retired from professional soccer. He was part of the Bundesliga team of the season twice.

Akira

“intelligent”. Kurosawa (1910-1998) was an Akira.

Akiharu

rising sun/bright

Akimasa

Akimasa is a combination of brightness and “right or correct.”

Akebono

Dawn, from ake, daybreak, and hono, faint. A sumo wrestler from Hawaii fought as Akebono Tarō.

Atsushi

”Pure.” It can also mean kindness and honesty.

Akirou

autumn/son

Akashika

Deer, red, and so rare that Behind the Name files it under rare usage.

Aito

“Affection” in Japanese, “true” in Finnish and ‘warrior’ in Tahitian.

Akihiro

Bright and “esteem,” “vast,” “great” or “expand.”

Girl Names:

Ayame

Iris. Save

Aoe

“blue”/“creek”/“picture”/“branch”

Akemi

It is made of ake, bright, and mi, beautiful.

Amaterasu

“Shining over heaven.” She’s a sun goddess and was born when Izanagi washed his left eye after a trip to underworld. Amaterasu is also known as Ōhirume and her maening is ‘great woman of the sun.’

Ahana

heavenly flower: 天華

Akimi

Though it differs from Akemi by one letter, Akimi is hope and view, and boys also get it occasionally.

Aina

Love and greens in Japanese, and “land” in Hawaiian.

Ahina

Ahina is meaning tomorrow and south.

Akiko

”Crystal child.”

Ai

Love or indigo, this pretty much depends on which character you choose for it.

Ahimi

From ai, love, hi, day, and mi, beautiful, three syllables doing a lot of work.

Aka

Red, and a favourite in Edo times. Today is msotly found in longer choices like Akari.

Asuka

“Tomorrow’s fragrance,” or “flying bird.”

Akari

Akari can be Lamp or light (灯) or vermilion or red combined with village (朱里).

Ami

Second, Asia, beautiful. In French, ami is a friend.

Ayaka

彩花 “colour/flower.”

Azami

Ah-zah-mee: thistle. Azami is a chūnin-level kunoichi of Kusagakure in Naruto.

Akise

crystal/generations

Azusa

梓 is the catalpa tree.

Aoi

Hollyhock, althea, blue, green.

Asasaki

Here, a rare choice with morning origins: “dawn blossom.”

Akaki

”Bare” or ”sincerity.” Akaki Tsereteli was a Georgian poet who published Gurian Nana in the newspaper Iveria.

Aiko

Aiko is symbolizing ”love and child” 愛子.

Akika

Obvious harvest.

Akiho

Rising sun and “to protect.”

Ayane

It has origins in aya, colour, design, and ne, sound.

Ayu

Sweetfish, Plecoglossus altivelis, the same ayu as in Ayukawa below.

Atsuko

Atsuko means ”warm or sincere child,” and Akko is a diminutive of it that also happens to mean “bad fox.”

Anzu

Apricot in Japanese, and Kyoko is another way to say the same characters. Mesopotamian mythd used Anzû for a divine storm bird.

Akie

Autumn and a picture. Did you know it also meaning “favour, benefit” with a different e?

Aika

Aika (A-EE-KA) – Means “love song” in Japanese, ‘time’ in Finnish and thanks in Chaga.

Aoyo

Blue-green world.

Akine

Rising sun and sound, a combination that I love.

Ayo

next generation/sub-world

Ame-no-Uzume

Goddess of dawn and mirth. Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto is the wife of fellow-god Sarutahiko Ōkami. She is still worshipped today as a Shinto kami.

Asami

“hemp/beautiful.”

Akoto

”Calm,” and a koto, an instrument that’s similar to a harp.

Akino

Rising sun, and no, the particle.

Aya

彩 color as well as 絢 for gorgeous or adorned beauty.

Akina

bright vegetables/side dish 明菜 or autumn vegetables 秋

Airi

愛莉 loving jasmine/逢凛 meeting dignity

Akatsuki

Dawn, daybreak, and it comes from akatoki, a pairing of “bright” and “time.” I-novel author Akatsuki Kambayashi (1902-1980) wrote under it.

Ahiru

‘Domestic duck.’ Don’t laugh.

Ameko

Ameko is symbolizing ”rain and child”

Last Names

Aoki

Tree, the blue or green kind. Rocky Aoki wrestled as an amateu and his son Steve Aoki is a DJ.

Akimoto

And the surname is derived from autumn and comes from moto, base or origin. Lyricist Yasushi Akimoto has it.

Akiba

Autumn leaf. Deity Akiha Gongen is worshipped as a protector against fire.

Ariyoshi

Sawako Ariyoshi (“have good luck”) sold over a million copies of The Twilight Years.

Anzai

Peace and west. Poet Fuyue Anzai (1898-1965) wrote prose poetry.

Akita

Akita (uh-KEE-tuh) – Means “autumn rice field”. It is one of seven breeds designated as a national monument in Nippon.

Asakura

”Morning and a storehouse.” The Asakura clan has origins from Emperor Temmu’s line.

Arima

Arima has a meaning that I love, ”possess a horse.”

Aoba

Aoba (ah-oh-bah) is “fresh green leaves,” a ward of Sendai, a heavy cruiser and the surname of singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba.

Ashikaga

Ashikaga is a shogunate and a city in Tochigi.

Amano

天野 sky meadow or 尼野: amateur field.

Asahina

‘Sunny place.’ In legend, Asahina Yoshihide is in kabuki as a somewhat superhuman legendary character.

Akechi

”Bright and wise” are two options. Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed Oda Nobunaga at Honnō temple. Later he declared himself shogun.

Akizuki

Autumn moon 秋月. Akizuki was the lead ship of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s new Type B destroyer category.

Aoyama

Green mountain, or blue.

Arakawa

Wild river, probably after the Arakawa that empties into Tokyo Bay. There is a high chance that you’ll mostly meet it in eastern Japan.

Amakusa

Heaven’s grass (天 草). Masuda Shirō Tokisada was the leader of the Shimabara Rebellion. Rebels were beheaded after the successful suppression of the rebellion.

Aikawa

愛川 Love river.

Asano

”Shallow field.” Asano Naganori was condemned to ritual suicide after attacking an official. Forty-seven rōnin avenged him and you can see a creative story in a movie with Keanu Reeves.

Arita

有 ”to have cultivated land.”

Adachi

足立 foot stand/安達 tranquil attainment. The Adachi clan is descended from Fujiwara no Yamakage.

Asai

Asai (ah-SY/ah-ZY) and it means “shallow well.”

Abe

阿 cove/部 department/安 safe. Abe no Nakamaro is in Hokusai’s Hyakunin Isshu series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

Aoshima

Island, a blue one. Miyazaki’s Aoshima has the world’s northernmost self-sowing fan palms.

Azuma

East. That’s also a term for eastern Japan now known as Kantō and Tōhoku region.

Aihara

It is made of ai, together, and hara, field..

Arai

New home, as in a family that settled in a new location, somewhere fresh.

Akagi

Castle, red 赤城. An aircraft carrier of World War Two was called Akagi.

Amemiya

Rain, then a temple, shrine or palace for the secodn kanji.

Araki

Hirohiko Araki (“wild tree”) is a manga artist who rocketed to fame with series JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.

Aizawa

Fellow swamp or indigo swamp. Tadahiro Aizawa (1926-1989) found a stone tool at Iwajuku, which is a proof of a Paleolithic Japan.

Arakaki

New stone wall, or wild enclosure, which in practice means the enclosure around a Shinto shrine. It’s an Ryukyuan one, and Hitoe Arakaki, eldest of SPEED, has it.

Asanuma

Marsh, shallow.

Ando

Peace and wisteria, also you can find as Andou or Andoh.