When Japanese children are born, they are often given meaningful names that reflect their future. If you want to be happy, put the word “幸 Happiness" in your name, and if you want to be strong, use kanji such as “力 power”.
Another important consideration, even when the character is the same, is which pronunciation to use. In 2019, the names most often given in Japan were "蓮 Renn" for boys and "蓮 Rinn" for girls.
The number of strokes is also important. For example, the kanji “大" is made up of three Kaku (strokes). The number of strokes means the number of dots and lines that make up a character. The stroke count is the total number of strokes within the surname and given name. Books for this calculation fill shelves in bookstores.
The Japanese not only make names meaningful, but they also care about the stroke count. Name are so important in Japanese culture.
Since 1996, Japanese-Online has been provided as a free service from PSPinc with the purpose of providing resources to individuals interested in learning about the Japanese Language and culture.
Japanese-Online has content suited to varying levels of study, including lessons for beginners as well as lessons tailored for those who need grammar and writing resources. Lessons are best suited to those who have basic understanding of hiragana and katakana alphabets before moving on to the more advanced grammar and particle lessons. Grammar lessons focus on learning about writing and creating more complex sentences and most lessons will not use romaji (Japanese sounds written with roman letters). Kanji is used in the lessons with hiragana and English translations provided.