[sarasi]

I notice people often give a list of names from that babyname site- they should be aware that a lot of those names are never used in Japan, and a lot of anime names are not ordinary either. From a quick look through this thread, suggestions offered for names that you will never meet a Japanese person with were: Ichigo (means strawberry!), Zakuro (pomegranate), Sushi (do you really think a Japanese person would call their child Sushi??!), Suzuki (this is a common family name, never a first name), Kagami (means mirror), Cho (one meaning of this word is "intestines"! Obviously no-one would give this name to their child), Wattan (I'm not sure if this is supposed to have a meaning, but there is no Japanese girl with this name and it sounds awful), Hachi (means bee), Mizu (means water, is not a name), Botan (as a boy's name even! Botan is a kind of flower and would never be a boy's name- it would be odd enough as a girl's name), Inari (rice), Amarante (this is definitely not a Japanese name), Hotaru (firefly), Kagome (the name of a well-known company in Japan that makes juice) and on and on.

Someone suggested that Tomoko and Seiko could be names for boys or girls- those are very girly names, like calling a boy Sarah or Victoria- just unthinkable. Anyone wanting to give their child a Japanese name, please check very carefully first to make sure the name is actually acceptable in Japan, or the child would be a laughing stock if he or she ever came here.