6 days ago 9

Japan Just Banned ‘Sparkly’ Baby Names in a Wild New Law

Americans may try to find the most whimsical, beautiful, and one-of-a-kind baby names for their children — but in Japan, that is no longer allowed. A new law banning “sparkly” baby names just went into effect there, which will restrict what baby names Japanese parents are allowed to choose.

New revisions to the Japan Family Register Act on May 26 limit the use of kirakira baby names, according to the South China Morning Post. This translates to “sparkly,” “shiny,” or “glittery” names that promote individual expression.

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Prohibited baby names under this new rule may include:

Jewel
Lovely
Kitty
Elsa
Ōjisama (“Prince”)
Naruto
Pikachu
Naiki (pronounced “Nike”)
Pū (like Winnie-the-Pooh)
Purin (pronounced “pudding”)
Daiya (“Diamond”)
Akuma (“Devil”)

Why Did This Ban Happen?

According to CNN, special names like this can be “confusing for hospitals, schools and authorities who don’t know how to pronounce them.” This is mostly because names are typically written in Kanji, based on Chinese characters, which can be pronounced multiple ways. Figuring out the right pronunciation for these names is complicated if the names aren’t traditional names or if parents pick an unusual combination of characters to write a name. (Think: “Ashleigh” instead of “Ashley.”)

This rule was first prompted by a parents Shigeru and Ayako Sato, who named their child Akuma, which translates to “Devil” in 1994, per TODAY. Japanese officials approved the name initially, then later took them to court to make them change the name out of concern for the child. They ended up agreeing to change his name.

A 2022 study found that unique kirakira names have increased in popularity since the 1980s. They analyzed nearly 60,000 baby names over 40 years published in local newsletters and found that parents have increasingly been giving their babies unique and individual names. Interestingly, this increase was more prevalent for baby girls than for baby boys.

Naming Rules in Other Countries

Other countries have bans on baby names as well. Like in New Zealand, where they routinely reject names based on royalty like King, Prince, Princess, Duke, Queen, and Royal. In Italy, the name Blue (or the variation Blu) is banned due to a 2000 presidential decree mandating that a child’s name must correspond to their gender, and officials have argued that the name Blue is not associated with the female gender.

In the US, names that include a numeral are banned, which is why Elon Musk and Grimes dropped the “12” from their son’s name and changed it to X AE A-XII.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to give your baby a special name, but you might want to double check you aren’t breaking any laws first!

From Kamai to Arys, here’s a list of gender-neutral baby names that are super rare.