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Japanese names (人名 ,jinmei?) in modern times usually consist of a family name (surname), followed by a given name. This naming order is common in countries that have long been part of the Sinosphere, including among the Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese cultures. "Middle names" are not generally used. Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are characters of usually Chinese origin in Japanese pronunciation. The kanji for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations, but parents might use hiragana or katakana when giving a birth name to their newborn child. Names written in hiragana or katakana don't really bear a meaning, in contrast to given names expressed in kanji.
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Japanese family names are extremely varied: according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan. This is due to the recent origin of family names in Japan (1870s), hence there have been few generations in which family names could become extinct.[1] Common family names in Japan include Satō (佐藤) (most common), Suzuki (鈴木) (second most common), Takahashi (高橋) (third most common), and Katō (加藤) (tenth most common).[2] Surnames occur with varying frequency in different regions; for example, the names Chinen (知念), Higa (比嘉), and Shimabukuro (島袋) are common in Okinawa but not in other parts of Japan; this is mainly due to differences between the language and culture of Yamato people and Okinawans. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the rural landscape; for example, Ishikawa (石川) means "stone river," Yamamoto (山本) means "the base of the mountain," and Inoue (井上) means "above the well."
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Given names are much more diverse in pronunciation and character usage. Male names often end in -rō (郎 "son", but also 朗 "clear, bright"; e.g. "Ichirō") or -ta (太 "great, thick"; e.g. "Kenta"), or contain ichi (一 "first [son]"; e.g. "Ken'ichi"), kazu (also written with 一 "first [son]", along with several other possible characters; e.g. "Kazuhiro"), ji (二 "second [son]" or 次 "next"; e.g. "Jirō"), or dai (大 "great, large"; e.g. "Dai'ichi") while female names often end in -ko (子 "child"; e.g. "Keiko") or -mi (美 "beauty"; e.g. "Yumi"). Other popular endings for female names include -ka (香 "scent, perfume" or 花 "flower"; e.g. "Reika") and -na (奈, or 菜, meaning greens; e.g. "Haruna").
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