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Character names

Names written in characters — Chinese generation names, Japanese jinmeiyō, Korean hanja and 돌림자 as kinship design, not fortune-telling.

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Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.

Score profile

Each bar is a 0-100 atlas score for this topic, not a timeline.

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Score profile
Timeline

Milestones in order. This is history, not a weekly activity grid.

Zhou–Han Theophoric and virtue namesZhou–HanTang–Song+ Generation poemsTang–Song+794 anecdote / later practice Lineage lists794 anecdote1870s–90s Meiji surnames + registers1870s–90s1948+ Korean hangul-only options1948+1951+ Japanese tōyō/jōyō reforms1951+1981 / updates Jinmeiyō kanji list1981 / updat2000s– Luck-app market2000s–
  1. Theophoric and virtue names
  2. Generation poems
  3. Lineage lists
  4. Meiji surnames + registers
  5. Korean hangul-only options
  6. Japanese tōyō/jōyō reforms
  7. Jinmeiyō kanji list
  8. Luck-app market
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Why names matter / What makes a good name
15 min read

Share a naming topic with registry and script notes, not a fortune list.

Last reviewed Sources & creditsMedia creditsMethodology

TrendsWorldwide

Start with this section - History

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In Chinese, Japanese and Korean naming, a written character can carry a sense, a phonetic reading and a place in a kin system at once.

Chinese generation names and Korean 돌림자 assign a shared syllable or character to a sibling or cousin cohort. That is genealogy design — a way to read a family tree — not a prediction engine.

This page describes those systems and the legal lists that constrain them (especially Japanese jinmeiyō kanji). It will not calculate lucky strokes or destinies.

SystemsHan / kanji / hanja
Kin toolGeneration / 돌림자
Japan fileKoseki + jinmeiyō
Korea dataStatistics Korea
This atlasDescription only
Not usedStroke-count luck

Profile

Identity weight
78
Trend volatility
40
Legal friction
55
Cultural depth
97
Practical difficulty
80
Everyday reach
48

Seven chapters

History

How character-based given names became kin technology and then state files.

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Science

Linguistics and legal studies of character names — without numerology.

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Craft

Working with character names as design and compliance.

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Culture

Calligraphy, kin rites and the pop-culture of “lucky names.”

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Trends

Character systems are deep and slow; the luck market is shallow and fast.

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Voices

Scholars and clerks of character naming — not fortune-tellers.

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Worldwide

Where character naming meets forms that only want Latin letters.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a generation name?
In many Chinese lineages a poem or list assigns one character of the given name by generation, so cousins share a written coordinate.
What is 돌림자?
A Korean practice of sharing a hanja/syllable across siblings or a generation. It marks a set. It does not forecast fortunes in this atlas.
Why does Japan have a kanji list for names?
The koseki (family register) and ministry lists (jōyō and jinmeiyō) limit which characters can be filed for a given name.
Do Statistics Korea tables use hanja?
KOSTAT publishes given-name frequencies; families may still think in hanja even when the file is hangul. Read releases as counts, not as luck.
Is a “good” character one with lucky strokes?
Not here. A good character is one the family intends, the registrar accepts, and the bearer can live with — no stroke-count science.
Can I mix a Chinese generation character with an English name?
People do, as stacked identities. Keep the kin logic and the English fashion logic in separate columns.
Are character names more “meaningful” than English names?
They are often more compositional. Composition is not destiny. See meaning-and-etymology.
Where is everyday reach lower?
Outside East Asia, clerks may treat the romanisation as the only name — a practical, not spiritual, problem.

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