Japanese Names

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The Japanese syllable is based on five basic vowel sounds; a, i, u, e, and o. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

a : as in father

e : as in set

i : as in he

u : as in put

o : as in polo

The vowel sounds are consistent except for the notes below. The rest of the sounds in the language are basically made by adding a consonant in front of vowel. 'N' is the only consonant sound that stands alone without a vowel following it. Japanese has an open-syllable sound system, which means that most syllables end in a vowel. So first, simply break up Japanese names into syllables and pronounce them. For example:

Suzuki -- su-zu-ki

Takahashi -- ta-ka-ha-shi

Abe -- a-be

Japanese is a pitched accent language, which means that after a stressed syllable, the pitch falls. Notes:

'r' and 'l'
There is no real 'r' and 'l' in the Japanese sound system. The sound is between 'l' and 'r.'
e.g., Reiko
'g' and 'j'
'g' sound is always pronounced in the hard form as game, ground, or give, never in the soft form of giant, or George.
e.g., Shigeru
'a' + 'i'
'a' and 'i' together sound like the 'i' in 'ice.'
e.g., Aikawa
'e' + 'i'
'e' and 'i' together sound like a long 'eh' sound.
e.g., Keiko
'o' + 'u'
'o' and 'u' together sound like a long 'o' sound. (This can be written as ou, oh, oo, or o with a bar over top it.)
e.g., Kyouko
'u' + 'u'
'u' accompanies just after 'u' sound 'oo.' (However, one of the 'u' s is omitted often when writing.)
e.g., Shuuchi

You can learn more about Japanese names at Wikipedia.

Last Names	Pronunciation	Male First Names	Pronunciation	Female First Names	Pronunciation
Abe	[a-be]	Akio	[a-ki-o]	Akiko	[a-ki-o]
Aoki	[a-o-ki]	Akira	[a-ki-ra]	Etsuko	[eh-tsu-ko]
Endo	[en-doh]	Hideo	[hi-de-o]	Hiroko	[he-ro-ko]
Fujita	[fu-ji-ta]	Hiroshi	[hi-ro-sih]	Hiromi	[he-ro-me]
Goto	[go-toh]	Ichiro	[e-chi-roh]	Junko	[june-ko]
Hara	[ha-ra]	Junichi	[june-e-chi]	Kaoru	[ka-o-ru]
Hasegawa	[ha-se-ga-wa]	Kazuo	[ka-zu-o]	Kazuko	[ka-zu-ko]
Hashimoto	[ha-shi-mo-toh]	Kenji	[ken-ji]	Keiko	[keh-ko]
Hayashi	[ha-ya-shi]	Kiyoshi	[ki-yo-shi]	Kuniko	[koo-ni-ko]
Ikeda	[e-ke-da]	Koichi	[ko-e-chi]	Kyoko	[kyoh-ko]
Inoue	[e-no-u-e]	Koji	[ko-ji]	Mariko	[ma-ri-ko]
Ishii	[e-shi-i]	Makoto	[ma-ko-toh]	Masako	[ma-sa-ko]
Ishikawa	[e-shi-ka-wa]	Osamu	[o-sa-mu]	Michiko	[me-chi-ko]
Ito	[e-toh]	Shigeru	[shi-ge-ru]	Miho	[me-ho]
Kaneko	[ka-ne-ko]	Shinichi	[shin-e-chi]	Miki	[me-ki]
Kato	[ka-toh]	Shiro	[shi-ro]	Miyuki	[me-you-ki]
Kimura	[ki-mu-ra]	Susumu	[su-su-mu]	Naoko	[na-o-ko]
Kobayashi	[ko-ba-ya-shi]	Tadashi	[ta-da-shi]	Noriko	[no-lee-ko]
Kojima	[ko-ji-ma]	Takao	[ta-ka-o]	Reiko	[reh-ko]
Kondo	[kon-doh]	Takashi	[ta-ka-shi]	Sachiko	[sa-chi-ko]
Maeda	[ma-e-da]	Takeo	[ta-ke-o]	Takako	[ta-ka-ko]
Matsumoto	[ma-tsu-mo-toh]	Takeshi	[ta-ke-shi]	Tomoko	[to-mo-ko]
Miura	[mi-wu-ra]	Toru	[toh-ru]	Yoko	[yoh-ko]
Mori	[mo-ri]	Tsutomu	[tsu-to-mu]	Yoshiko	[yo-shi-ko]
Murakami	[mu-ra-ka-mi]	Yoshio	[yo-shi-o]	Yuki	[you-ki]
Nakajima	[na-ka-ji-ma]	Yuji	[you-ji]	Yumi	[you-me]
Nakamura	[na-ka-mu-ra]	Yutaka	[you-ta-ka]	Yumiko	[you-me-ko]
Nakayama	[na-ka-ya-ma]
Nomura	[no-mu-ra]
Ogawa	[o-ga-wa]
Okada	[o-ka-da]
Ono	[o-no]
Ota	[oh-ta]
Saito	[sa-i-toh]
Sasaki	[sa-sa-ki]
Sato	[sa-toh]
Shimizu	[shi-me-zoo]
Suzuki	[su-zu-ki]
Takahashi	[ta-ka-ha-shi]
Tanaka	[ta-na-ka]
Uchida	[wu-chi-da]
Wada	[wa-da]
Watanabe	[wa-ta-na-beh]
Yamada	[ya-ma-da]
Yamaguchi	[ya-ma-gu-chi]
Yamamoto	[ya-ma-mo-toh]
Yamashita	[ya-ma-shi-ta]
Yamazaki	[ya-ma-za-ki]
Yokoyama	[yo-ko-ya-ma]
Yoshida	[yo-shi-da]

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updated June 22, 2005