Gender-Neutral Names in the Youngest Japanese Generation: Characteristics of Their Phonological and Graphic Forms

Gender-neutral names have received increasing attention in recent Japanese public discourse regarding names and naming practices. Names referred to as gender-neutral ( chūseiteki or jendāresu in Japanese) are commonly considered to be names that can be given to both boys and girls, and their gender-neutral character is discussed explicitly in relation to the phonological and/or graphic form of the name. Although gender-neutral names represent a minority compared to gender-specific names, they are clearly growing in popularity. This study explores gender-neutral names in contemporary Japanese naming practices, their linguistic characteristics, and the mechanisms behind their evolution. The analysis is based on 39 phonological and 57 graphic forms classified as gender-neutral among 256 distinct phonological and 333 distinct graphic forms of names given to children of both sexes. These names were identified from a dataset of 15,058 names collected from the parenting website Baby Calendar between 2008 and 2022. The study also highlights the specifics of gender-neutral naming in Japan that are related to the use of kanji, allowing for names to be gender-neutral only in their phonological or graphic form.