The 10 most attractive Japanese women’s names, as chosen by dating app users

Some ask what’s in a name, but women with these monikers proved to be more popular than any others on one well-known dating app.

Last month, we discussed the most popular baby names in Japan. What happens, though, when we skew the survey target older?

While it’s taken a bit of time to catch on, online dating services are gaining popularity in Japan. One of the organizations offering help to Japanese singles looking for a romantic partner is Tinder, which works in Japan just like it does in other territories. After looking over another user’s profile, you swipe right if you’re interested, and left if you’re not.

Tinder recently took a look through its data for 2016 and compiled a list of the women’s names that received the most right swipes over the course of the year. Let’s take a look at the top 10 entries.

10. Aoi
Since the study was only concerned with the pronunciation of a woman’s name, not the exact kanji characters used to write it, we can’t pin down which exact rendering was really earning most of a name’ right flicks. As with all the names on this list, Aoi can be written a number of ways, but among the most common are those meaning “hollyhock” (葵) or the color “blue” (碧).

9. Misato
One of many names on the list which frequently contains the kanji 美, meaning “beautiful,” Misato can mean “beautiful knowledge” (美知) or “beautiful village” (美里).

8. Mayu
Most versions of Mayu include the character 真, or “truth,” such as those which stand for “sole truth” (真唯) or “true evening” (真夕).

7. Kanako
The kanji 奈, which has connections to the concept of divinity as well as apples, regularly shows up in the name Kanako, which can roughly be taken to mean “child of great blessings” (加奈子). An exception, though, is the rendering 奏子, “child of music.” Incidentally, this is also the only name on the list to end in -ko, a once popular choice for girls’ names that’s now acquired a bit of a stigma as old-fashioned.

6. Erika
While kanji do have inherent meanings, some Japanese names come about more because they sound nice than because of an attempt to actually impart a deep significance to them, such as when Erika is written 恵梨香 (“scent of blessed pears” ) or 絵里香 (“scent of picturesque village”).

5. Rina
The 奈 we mentioned for Misato also appears in many versions of Rina, such as 里奈 (“blessed village”) and 梨奈 (“blessed pear”).

4. Mizuki
Although the Japanese word for “moon” is usually pronounced tsuki, its initial consonant blend gets softened in the name Mizuki, which can mean “beautiful moon” (美月) or “water moon” (水月).

3. Moe
The most common writing of Moe, 萌, means to “sprout,” lending the name a youthfully innocent air.

2. Ayaka
Ayaka has a number of potential meanings with an elegant feel to them, such as 彩花 (“colorful flowers”) and 綾香 (“woven fragrances “).

1. Miyu
Finally, 美, which we also saw used to write Misato and Mizuki, is frequently part of the nam Miyu, which can mean “beautiful kindness” (美優). It can also mean “beautiful connection” (美結), which makes it an extremely appropriate name to top this list of the most popular names from a dating app.

Reference: Minna no Namae
Source: Tinder Japan press release
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)

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