72 Unique Japanese Girl Names With Dark Meanings

More than 130 million people speak Japanese, with the majority of them living in Japan. I have hand-picked 72 unique Japanese girl names with dark meanings.

List Of 72 Japanese Girl Names With Dark Meanings:

Mayonaka

Mayonaka means “the middle of the night” or “midnight.” “Mayonaka no Door (Stay with Me)” is the debut single of singer Miki Matsubara.

Noroi

”Malediction” or ”curse.” Noroi: The Curse is a Japanese horror film about a paranormal researcher.

Yami

Yami is symbolizing ”dark” or ”darkness.”

Mononoke

Mononoke are dark spirits, living spirits, dead spirits, or vengeful spirits in Japanese folklore and classical literature. They were mentioned for the first time in Nihon Kōki.

Ankoku

Ankoku means opaque, obscurity, shadow, blackness, and darkness in Japanese.

Akane

Akane is the Japanese word for deep red. Akane is ranked in the top 10 of the girl names in Japan. Ballerina Akane Takada bears this name and she joined the Royal Ballet as an apprentice in 2008.

Kurayami

In Japanese Kurayami translates as “deep darkness” or ”dark noun.” You may like the fact that the name Kurayami is very rare in the United States.

Shikigami

Shikigami refers to a ”small ghost.” These beings have a power that is connected to the spiritual force of their master. In the manga series Jujutsu Kaisen Shikigami are spiritual beings resembling cursed spirits.

Kage

Kage means ‘shade’ or ‘shadow.’ Kage is pronounced kah-geh in Japanese. In the Sega Virtua Fighter, Kage-Maru is a 10th-generation Hagakure Ninja.

Yamiko

Yamiko means ”night child” in Japanese. Yamiko is also a given name of the Chewa tribe that is a matriarchal Bantu-speaking ethnic group.

Kuroi

‘Black’ or ‘dark’. Atsushi Kuroi was a Japanese professional drifting driver who competed in the D1 Grand Prix series.

Akuma

Akuma is meaning “demon” or “devil.” In Japanese Christianity, Akuma is the name that is set to Satan, also known as the Devil, a fallen angel who has rebelled against God.

Shinya

Deep night.

Higanbana

Higanbana comes from higan which is the Buddhist term for the far shore of the afterlife. It is pronounced as hee-gahn-BAH-nah.

Tasogare

”Dusk” or ”twilight.” It has roots in the question ta so kare, “who is that” which travelers asked when they no longer see if there is a friend or a stranger on the road.

Izanami

In Japanese mythology, Izanami is the creator of both creation and death. It means ”female-who-invites.”

Reiko

Depending on the used kanji, Reiko symbolizes a child of gratitude or a beautiful child. Reiko Ohara was a Japanese actress who was the subject of the drama Actress Reiko: Like a Flame.

Enma

Enma comes from the Sanskrit name Yama, the Hindu god of death. The word “Yama” means ‘twin’ or ‘binder.’ The Vedas described Yama as the first man to die. His chief role is to capture the souls who have sinned.

Yūrei

In Japanese folklore, Yūrei are the representation of ghosts. The quickest way to exorcise a yūrei is to help it fulfill its role. The yūrei exists on Earth (due to unfinished business) until it can be laid to rest.

Kurohana

”Black flower.”

Karasu

Karasu is the word for ”crow” or ”raven.”

Nue

Nue is a chimera from the Tale of the Heike with a monkey head and tiger limbs. It is pronounced as NOO-eh.

Onryō

Onryō is the ghost of someone who died with a grudge too heavy to put down.

Chizuru

“One thousand cranes.”

Baku

Baku is the word for a dream eater, a spirit that swallows nightmares. In the Sanrio universe (we have an article about Hello Kitty characters), there is a purple boy tapir character named Baku who appears alongside Kuromi.

Tengu

Tengu are goblin-spirits in Shinto belief who are part bird and part man.

Yukionna

Yukionna combines ”yuki” (that means ”snow”) and ”onna” (”woman”). Yukihime is a snow spirit who accompanies Dosetsu Inuyama.

Kuroko

”Black child.” Kuroko’s Basketball is a sports manga series that has 30 tankōbon volumes.

Yōkai

Yōkai are supernatural spirits and entities with animal-like features.

Hannya

In Japan Hannya is mask of a woman turned demon by jealousy and is worn in Noh theatre. Its name is from the Sanskrit prajñā, “wisdom,” and I find it an irony no one has fully explained.

Yamauba

Yamauba is made of yama (”mountain”) and uba (”that means ”an aged woman”). It is also a variation of the name of a yōkai and usually appears as a monstrous crone.

Hotaru

“Firefly.”

Gaki

Gaki come from the Buddhist term for a hungry ghost and are spirits condemned to endless craving that can never satisfy.

Rasetsu

Rasetsu are the demons that Buddhist manuscripts describe as night wanderers and are haunting graveyards under the authority of Enma who is the lord of the dead.

Kasumi

Kasum is meaning ”mist.” Actress Kasumi Arimura won the 45th Japan Academy Film Prize.

Shinigami

Shinigami are creatures of darkness, helpers, monsters, and can lead individuals to where people have died. It has a meaning that I like, “death spirit(s).”

Ryū

Ryu means flow, prosperous, noble, or dragon. Manga artist Ryu Fujisaki issued Hoshin Engi, a manga series about the history of China and Chinese mythology.

Tamashi

Tamashi has the meaning of ”soul” in Japanese..

Mikazuki

Mikazuki means “three-day moon.” Its roots are: mi (three), ka (day), tsuki (moon).

Jashin

Jashin is symbolizing a heretical or evil god outside the sanctioned order.

Majin

Half man, half something else entirely, Majin is a being caught between human and demon. Dragon Ball used it for their character Majin Buu.

Kurenai

”Deep crimson.” Kurenai is linked to benibana, the safflower that yielded the dye.

Kurumi

Kurumi is symbolizing ”walnut tree.” A famous person with this name is Kurumi Inui, a mystery writer who wrote Initiation Love.

Yamiyo

“Dark night.”

Kurokami

Kuro (means ”black”) and kami (”hair”). In ghost stories, Kurokami hints at a spirit who cannot let go. I find it the most quietly unsettling name on this list due to the fact that nothing in it is monstrous on its own.
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Kuroshiro

”Black-white.”

Shinku

”Deep crimson.” Even if it doesn’t have a dark meaning, Shinku is a good name for this list.

Kurai

Kurai is another name that I love from this list meaning ‘dark’ or ‘night.’

Majo

Majo means witch. Studio Ghibli’s Kiki’s Delivery Service has the Japanese title Majo no Takkyūbin.

Yōjo

Yōjo is a bewitching woman. Older ghost stories used the term for female spirits.

Kuroha

Feather or black.

Kurogane

Kurogane is symbolizing “black metal” or ”black iron.”

Setsuna

Setsuna means a ”single flick of time” and comes from the Sanskrit kṣaṇa. It is the saddest word here and in the same time it never once mentions death.

Meian

Meian is translated as ”light and dark.”

Fuin

Fuin means seal, the act of locking a curse or spirit away.

Kegare

“Impurity” or “uncleanness”.

Yomi

Yomi is the land of the dead, the location where the dead go in the afterlife. It is ruled over by Izanami no Mikoto.

Zetsubō

”Hopelessness” or ”despair.”

Kyōki

”Insanity” or ”madness.” It is pronounced as kyoh-KEE.

Tatari

Tatari means ”curse” or ”the vengeance of a wronged spirit.

Yūgure

Twilight.

Jigoku

Jigoku is composed of ji (that means ”earth”) and goku (”prison”) for the meaning of “earth-prison.” Enma is the king who judges the ones who arrive.

Makai

”The demon world.”

Yasha

A yaksha is a spirit that guards and devours in equal measure.

Tamoe

“Blessing.”

Tsumi

Tsumi means the breaking of a divine rule and is similar to the English word for sin. Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is translated in Japanese as Tsumi to Batsu (”sin and punishment”).

Doku

Doku is poison and is pronounced as DOH-koo.

Urami

Urami is a grudge held long past the point most people let go.

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Kuroyuri

”Black Lily.”

Akuryō

Akuryō is the general term for an evil spirit.