For 36 straight years, every one of Japan's ten most popular girls' names ended in 子

In the margin

Nine things the register records, each anchored to the year it happens in. Every number is computed from the table above.

1921

子

36 yearsFrom 1921 to 1956, every name in the girls' top ten ended in 子. Not one exception.

1912

仮名

5 of 10In 1912, 5 of the ten girls' names were written in kana, not kanji: ハル、ハナ、ヨシ、キヨ、はる.

1912

元号

5 yearsA new era's character took rank 1 in its own opening years — 正 in 1912, 1913, 1914 and 昭 in 1927, 1928. The last instance is 1928; neither 平成 nor 令和 repeated it.

1916

辰

6 yearsOnly one zodiac animal ever reaches a top ten: 辰, in 1916, 1928, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012. 子 is excluded from this sweep — it is the name suffix above, so a rat-year hit cannot be told apart from an ordinary 子 name.

1938

勝

5 years at #1勝 ("victory") held rank 1 in 1938, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 勝利 appears in the top ten from 1943 to 1945. Neither appears in any year after 1945.

1927

和子

23 years at #1和子 held rank 1 in 23 separate years between 1927 and 1952. 紀子 interrupted the run in 1940 — the year of 皇紀2600年 — and 和子 was back at rank 1 in 1941.

1927

連覇

13 vs 8The longest unbroken hold on rank 1 is 和子's, 1927–1939 (13 years). The boys' record is 誠's 8.

1950

多様

16 → 37The 1950s used only 16 distinct girls' names across its ten top-tens; the 2000s used 37. From 1990 a year can list more than ten names, so part of the later spread is tied ranks rather than naming variety.

1912

読み

52 ways to read 愛Writing a name does not fix how it is said: 86% of these names have more than one attested reading, and 愛 has 52. There is no single romanisation to give, which is why this page shows the kanji. Readings from JMnedict (EDRDG), listed in dictionary order — it does not rank them by frequency and neither do we.

2016

葵

1 in 114 yearsIn 114 years, exactly one name appears on both the boys' and the girls' list in the same year: 葵, in 2016. It carries no gendered suffix.