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Hiroto and Aoi ranked as most popular baby names for 2016

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Hiroto (大翔) and Aoi (葵) were ranked as the most popular baby names for boys and girls in 2016, according to a survey conducted by Meiji-Yasuda Seimei, a major insurance company in Japan. The company surveyed 8,947 baby boys and 8,509 baby girls who were born this year and whom they insured.

Hiroto has been ranked as the most popular boy's name seven times in the past 10 years, while Aoi has been the most popular girl's name three times. Among boys, Ren (蓮) and Yuma (悠真) were ranked second and third most popular, while for girls, Sakura (さくら) and Hina (陽菜) were second and third in popularity.

Meiji-Yasuda Seimei predicted that next year, the most popular names are likely to be Taki (瀧) for boys, and Mitsuha (三葉) for girls, which are the main characters’ names in the blockbuster animation movie "your name."

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Aoi is a nice flowery name. Hollyhock is one of the English equivalents. Holly is a girls name in the English world.

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Sakura and Hina were leading Naruto characters.

Aoi?

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Aye about time to start naming everyone Masayoshi. Can't think of any other way for you to get better, society.

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according to japantimes, so there is some trend..

Kohei, the given name of Japanese gymnastics star Uchimura, who won two gold medals at this year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, rose to No. 41 on the boys list, up from No. 312 last year.

Kei, the given name of Japanese tennis star Nishikori, a bronze medalist at the Olympics, shot up to No. 60 from No. 878.

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Meiji-Yasuda Seimei predicted that next year, the most popular names are likely to be Taki (瀧) for boys, and Mitsuha (三葉) for girls, which are the main characters’ names in the blockbuster animation movie “your name.”

Perhaps hoping to lead the latest trend haha!!

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@ rightsided, sure there are 'trends' thing is quite a few non english speaking countries follow hollywood/US trends far too closely imo and suddenly you get Dylan, Rihanna, Jason etc popping up in all schools in france, italy, Sweden etc.

Not a fan tbh, that's why i said at least J parents seem to be imune to US trends. Fine in the US or even anglo nations but not so much elsewhere imo. No big deal just a different pov.

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The must be following some trend if there are more Hiroto's and Aoi's. Just because they're not naming their children Sky Blue or Marshmallow, doesn't make them any better

well, when Japanese people name their babies, they normally choose kanji characters that fit their image. for example, Hiroto (大翔) means Spread your wing big! which I'm sure you can imagine what the parents hoped for when they named they boys Hiroto. There are many other Hiroto's with many different kanji characters but the fact this particular kanji 翔 was chosen by so many parents actually suggests what the parents' wishes are in this crazy world.

And the name Aoi (葵) comes from a plant hollyhock. Aois bloom straight up facing the sun, very pretty flower but also strong :) Just like Hiroto, you can imagine how the parents put thoughts into their baby names. I love the name Aoi.

Although Hiroto and Aoi became popular names this year, the characters翔 and葵 have been used in various other names and these 2 kanji characters have been popular for many many years.

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The must be following some trend if there are more Hiroto's and Aoi's.

That logic doesn't follow. If you have a million kids, with 999,998 different names, but two each of Hiroto and Aoi, then those names will be the most popular, but it can hardly be considered that there is a trend there.

Now of course that's not going to actual numbers, but it expresses how two names could be more popular, without the parents following any trend. So to conclude that parents who named their kids Hiroto and Aoi are following a trend, without any other evidence than the fact that they named their kids these names, is faulty logic.

Both names have existed for years, they are not new. It may just turn out that they were more chosen than other names this year by coincidence.

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Good to see J parents don't follow Hollywood trends unlike many westerners.

The must be following some trend if there are more Hiroto's and Aoi's. Just because they're not naming their children Sky Blue or Marshmallow, doesn't make them any better.

Japanese people also seem to be the ones who follow trends the most and want to be part of them: Christmas, Halloween, etc. and what's worse is that these things are in no way related to their culture, ideals, etc.

Anyway... got off topic. Gonbei is such a horrible, but hilarious name to say.

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Good to see J parents don't follow Hollywood trends unlike many westerners.

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Yeah,many Hiroto and Aoi in our neighborhood!!

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Whatever happened to "Gonbei" and "Mutsuko"?

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