Tokyo: For the past few years, Japan had seen a growing trend of giving children sparkling names, known as “Kirakira names”. These names looked attractive but were very difficult to read or pronounce. Parents were choosing names based only on how they sounded, often inspired by cartoon characters or foreign words. For example, some children were named like “Pikachu,” just because it sounded cute or unique.
In Japan, names are usually written using Kanji, Chinese characters that have specific meanings and traditional pronunciations. But in Kirakira names, the Kanji and the pronunciation often didn’t match. This caused confusion everywhere — in schools, hospitals, banks, and government offices. Teachers could not take attendance properly, nurses didn’t know how to call a patient, and government officials had a hard time processing documents.
To solve this issue, Japanese government made a new rule. From now on, parents have to mention the correct pronunciation of their child’s name while registering it. If the pronunciation didn’t match the common way of reading that Kanji, the name could be rejected or the parents would be asked to submit extra paperwork. The goal of this rule was to make names easier to read and write, and to avoid embarrassment or bullying of children in the future.
As soon as the rule was announced, it sparked debate on social media. Some people said this was an attack on parental rights. They argued that children belonged to parents, not the government. Others supported the rule, saying it would help reduce problems in daily life and make the system more efficient.
This was not the first time Japan had strict rules about names. According to Japanese law, married couples must share the same surname, and usually, women have to adopt the husband’s last name. Now, even first names were being regulated.
