Clear skies are ahead — at least, that’s the trend suggested by the most popular baby names in Japan this year.
The 2025 rankings were announced Oct. 30 by Tamahiyo, a parenting media outlet managed by Benesse Corporation. Among 83,839 boys and 82,172 girls born between Jan. 1 and Sept. 15, two single-kanji names took center stage: Ao (碧) kept its top spot for boys for a second year, and Sui (翠) held the crown for girls for the first time since the media outlet began tracking naming trends in 2005.
This year’s rankings showed that names associated with the sky and the color blue were popular for boys: Ao (碧) means deep blue or azure, while No. 4’s Asahi (朝陽) means morning sun and sunrise. Haru (晴), which suggests a clear sky, also climbed from the No. 18 spot last year to No. 8 this year.
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