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'Aoi' tops boy names for 2023, 'Himari' for girls

TOKYO - In a survey on names given to children born this year, "Aoi", written with the character '碧', emerged as the top name for boys for the first time since the survey began, while "Himari" retained its position as the most popular name for girls for the second consecutive year.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance conducted the survey on approximately 14,000 newborn boys and girls this year. The most popular name for boys was "Aoi," jumping from fourth place last year to first, a first-time occurrence since the survey began.

The second most popular names for boys were 'Haruto' or 'Hinata', written as '陽翔', and 'Dan' or 'Haru', written as '暖'.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance speculates that the performances of soccer players Aoi Tanaka and Ritsu Doan in last year's World Cup in Qatar may have influenced the naming of children.

For girls, the most common name was 'Himari' or 'Hinata', written as '陽葵', making it the top name for the third time and the second consecutive year. The second and third most popular names for girls were 'Rin' (凛) and 'Tsumugi' (紬), respectively.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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