You’ve probably already seen a few Japanese first names that start with ‘H’. For example, you might have heard of Hayao Miyazaki, the film director who co-founded Studio Ghibli and directed the animated film Spirited Away.
You might also have heard of Haruki Murakami, the famous Japanese author who wrote 1Q84.
Surely, you have heard of the “Final Fantasy” video game series, but perhaps you didn’t know the name of its creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi (which also starts with ‘H’).
Hayao, Haruki, and Hironobu are just a small sample of Japanese first names that start with the letter ‘H’. English has a few names that begin with this letter, Henri, Helen, and Heather, for example —but Japanese has plenty of them.
An important feature of Japanese names is that they often have several possible spellings. Each spelling comes with its meaning that arises from the combined meanings of the individual Kanji characters in that particular spelling.
For example, possible spellings for the name Haruko include 春子 (“spring child”) and 晴子 (“clear weather child”).
Those who love nature-themed names will find plenty of attractive choices among Japanese girl names that start with ‘H’ because words like 春 (haru), which refers to the spring season, and 花 (hana) which means “flower” appear at the beginning of several of these names.
To make browsing the Japanese girl names listed above easier, we have organized some of them into groups according to the initial Kanji character in one of their common spellings.
The first group of Japanese names that begin with ‘H’ are those that can be spelled using the Kanji character 春 (haru), which refers to the spring season. Here are examples of such names:
| Name | Possible Spelling | Possible Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Haruko | 春子 | 春 (haru): spring 子 (ko): child |
| Haruna | 春菜 | 春 (haru): spring 菜 (na): greens |
| Harue | 春恵 | 春 (haru): spring 恵 (e): blessing |
| Haruyo | 春代 | 春 (haru): spring 代 (yo): generation |
| Haruno | 春野 | 春 (haru): spring 野 (no): field |
The Japanese word 初 (hatsu) means “first”. That kanji character also appears in terms like 初恋 (hatsukoi), which means “first love.”
One of the challenging aspects of the Japanese language is that Kanji characters can have several different readings (or pronunciations) depending on the word in which they appear.
For instance, the reading of the character 初 is “sho” (instead of “hatsu”) in the word 初心 (shoshin), a term that can be translated as “beginner’s mind” and refers, in the context of Zen, to an attitude that is open and free of preconceptions.
| Name | Possible Spelling | Possible Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hatsue | 初枝 | 初 (hatsu): first 枝 (e): branch |
| Hatsune | 初音 | 初 (hatsu): first 音 (ne): sound |
| Hatsumi | 初美 | 初 (hatsu): first 美 (mi): beauty |
The Japanese word 花 (hana) means “flower.” That Kanji character appears in flower-related terms such as 生け花 (ikebana), which refers to the art of flower arrangement, and 花束 (hanataba), which refers to a bouquet.
| Name | Possible Spelling | Possible Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hana | 花 | 花 (hana): flower |
| Hanako | 花子 | 花 (hana): flower 子 (ko): child, girl |
| Hanae | 花絵 | 花 (hana): flower 絵 (e): picture |
| Name | Possible Spelling | Possible Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Hiroyuki | 博之 | 博 (hiro): command 之 (yuki): this |
| Hiroto | 博人 | 博 (hiro): command 人 (to): person |
| Hiroaki | 博明 | 博 (hiro): command 明 (aki): bright, clear |
| Hirofumi | 博文 | 博 (hiro): command 文 (fumi): sentence, literature |
| Hirokazu | 博和 | 博 (hiro): command 和 (kazu): harmony, peace |
| Hiroya | 博也 | 博 (hiro): command 也 (ya): to be |
A famous namesake can provide additional appeal to a name. In the case of Japanese first names that start with ‘H’, there are some very famous people with such names.
These include, in particular, the author Haruki Murakami and the film director Hayao Miyazaki. Additional examples are listed in the table below.
| Name | Occupation |
|---|---|
| Hayao Miyazaki | Animator, film director, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli |
| Haruki Murakami | Internationally popular Japanese author whose novels include “1Q84” and “Norwegian Wood” |
| Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japanese filmmaker (he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his movie “Shoplifters”) |
| Hiro Mashima | Manga artist who created the series “Fairy Tail” |
| Hiromu Arakawa | Manga artist who created the “Fullmetal Alchemist” series |
| Hironobu Sakaguchi | Creator of the “Final Fantasy” video game series |
| Hiroya Oku | Manga artist who created the series “Gantz” |
| Hajime Isayama | Manga artist who created the series “Attack on Titan” |
By the way, if you like Japanese names, why not learn the language? Start learning Japanese with a free lesson.