Name: Japan's worst baby names | KIRAKIRA NAMES
Uploaded: 2018-05-16T02:41:30.000Z
Duration: 10 min 42 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So, in Japan there are names called "Kirakira" names.

Yeah, kirakira means sparkly, or shiny, and those names

Yeah, no one actually uses these names to name their own child

and often time it's very hard to read or many of them are impossible to read.

What do you mean, no one actually uses them? Some people do use them, right?

I mean, some, a few, maybe one or two people.

Jun is too polite so say it, but these are bad Japanese baby names.

Yeah, I admit it, they're really bad so...

Have you ever,  you know those lists we have in America of the worst baby names

and you're like, "How, how did someone name their child this?"

Well, that is not unique to Western culture.

So today, we're going to give you some examples of those really bad Japanese names a.k.a. Kirakira names.

So the thing about Japanese names is that they have a kanji and then, of course, a reading.

Many kanji have several readings but the thing about kirakira names is

necessarily real readings of that kanji, so Japanese

people have no idea how to pronounce these names,

and in fact it's impossible for Japanese people to guess how these names are pronounced base on the kanji.

So, the top kanji means "Light" and the second kanji means "Universe" or "Space"

R: Wait, wait, really? -Yeah, it's Pikachu.

I'm so sorry, Pikachu. No! Oh my god, can you imagine that kid in school?

I mean, like, imagine when you are like 20, or 30, or 40, and then you're boss' name is Pikachu.

This one is not really, like, kirakira name. Um, the reading is literally "Tai Ma".

but this kanji with this word literally means  "Marijuana".

R: Oh, no! -I don't know what the parents were thinking!

"Hey little Marijuana! Come eat your vegetables!"

When I saw these two names, I literally had no idea how to read them.

So apparently, this one is "Jibanyan" from the popular anime for kids, and this one,

R: Yo-Kai Watch   -Yeah, Yo-Kai Watch, right. And this one is

Nooo!  Why are parents doing this to their kids?!

I mean, I couldn't believe that these names actually exist.

I don't-No. -Like, with katakana maybe, but..

I think cause this means "number 2" -Ah, number 2.

So maybe that's how they make it read. I don't know.

They said these exist so I think they actually do exist. -This is no longer funny to me.

"Hamtaro" -Ok, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done.

So, it's a name from the... was it anime, I guess?

The animation. The hamster animation for kids. Hamtaro.

But when I was in school I had a friend whose name was "Kotaro". Kotaro-kun.

It's a boy. And this part looks really similar to katakana "Ham",

so I just started calling him Hamtaro and he kind of went "Funny, funny".

Yeah but, ok, that's a cute nickname for a friend,

but then you don't name your child Hamtaro!

This kanji, this word, literally means "Main Character".

R: Nooo. Can you read this kanji like that? Hero.  -Impossible

There is a word for hero, which is "Eiyuu", but they don't even use that kanji to make  it read like hero.

They just named their son Main Character like the hero.

But you can't read it like that even. -Isn't he going to grow up to be super Chuunibyou or something?

I mean, I think the kid's going to be really realistic and hate their parents so bad and become probably really smart and, like...

Um, so, in the Meiji period, like a long time ago, they made two rules which are:

You can have only one name, and you cannot change your name.

But later they edited the rule, and if you bring it to a Family Court then you can change your name.

But, if you are under 15 years old then you have to bring it

to a Family Court with a legal representative, which normally are your parents

and if your parents are lacking in common sense like these [with names], they probably wouldn't let you

change your name, so you have to wait until you are turning 15 years old.

So Pikachu-san doesn't have to be Pikachu-san forever.  -Yeah

By the way, what's your favourite name that maybe you want to use for your kid if you have one in the future?

I really like old Japanese masculine names. -Uh-huh

I don't know why but they sound like really, really cool.

Uh-huh. -My favourite Japanese boy name is "Isamu"

Ahh, right-right-right, it was Isamu, wasn't it?

Yeah, like the name was Isamu and the kanji means "courage", which is really cool.

Or "brave" -Or 'brave", yeah. Yeah, Isamu.

Yeah, and it's like, it's a normal Japanese name. It's not kirakira.

Yeah, it's very old. Does it sound old to Japanese people? Like does it sound bad?

No. No, I don't think it sounds bad,  at all. -Ok, really? Mm-hm.

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Japan's worst baby names | KIRAKIRA NAMES

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