"Hiroto" is on the Top Rank for Four Consecutive Years

(Oita Godo Newspaper, December 7^th 2009, evening paper)

On December 7^th 2009, the large company who is doing business in communicative education, Benesse Corporation, presented their research for ranking of baby names according to popularity. "Hiroto" is the most popular name for boys, and Rin is the most popular one for girls.

The name "Hiroto" has been on the first rank for four consecutive years, "Shota" has been on the second rank, "Sho" is on the third rank. All of those top names include the Kanji "翔", which means "to soar, to fly". Benesse Corporation analyzed, "Since for every one hundred years, there will be one economic recession, the parents want their children to feel the power and strength to overcome the bad condition in the recession".

Among the name for girls, "Rin" which was on the fourth rank last year, became the most popular name this year. "Sakura" which was the eighth most popular last year, became the second one this year, probably to share the fortune of female professional golfer named Sakura Yokomine was awarded money prize as Queen.

A boy name "Ryo" came up from forty-eighth position last year to forty-first position this year, and the name "Ryo" belongs to the male professional golfer who was awarded money prize as King, named Ryo Ishikawa.

The entertainment business also made an impact in the choice of baby names. For example, "Eita" went up the rank from twenty-forth last year to ninth this year. Ms. Eita is popular as she appears on Japanese Drama and television commercials. "Juri" from Juri Ueno was on the two hundred and ninth rank.

This research done by Benesse Corporation was targeted on their customers who gave names to their babies from January 1^st to November 5^th 2009. The total number of baby names were 37,000 names.

Comment:

The wish of parents for the better future for their sons and daughters are apparent in the ways they give names to their new-born babies. Now I am quite curious to find out more about it, for example, which kinds of character of the artists in entertainment business that they adore and therefore adopt their names, and what kinds of the things they want their children to have by giving the names. This is quite an interesting observation.

NUGROHO Katarina Marsha Utama

Indonesia

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APM3)