A new study has found that naming authority is rapidly shifting from grandparents to parents, and from tradition to individuality.
According to research by Dr. Yuji Ogihara of Tokyo University of Science, recently published in the international journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, a preference for "uncommon" names is evident not only in the United States and Europe but also across Asian countries.
In the United States, the market share of top 10 names has been steadily declining since the 1880s. While names like "James" and "Michael" once held dominant positions, the trend now favors modifying spellings of common pronunciations or combining entirely new words. Major European countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany have also seen the breakdown of structures where specific names swept the top rankings.
In Asia, linguistic characteristics of each country have made the changes even more pronounced. In Japan, while the Chinese characters used remain common, there is a growing trend of assigning creative readings to them. Parents use familiar characters like "大" (great) or "光" (light) but have them read in pronunciations not found in dictionaries, emphasizing individuality. The research team explained that "naming standards have shifted toward prioritizing the originality of sound over written form."
In China, name lengths are changing. Instead of the previously standard two-character names, one-character or three-character names are increasing, diversifying the format itself. At the same time, cases of adopting rarely-used Chinese characters in names are also rising. This is assessed as a full-scale attempt to break naming conventions.
South Korea is showing the same trend. According to 2025-2026 birth registration name data from the Supreme Court's electronic family registry system, the concentration of popular names has notably dispersed. The top name "Do-yoon" recorded 6.32% (2,601 registrations), followed closely by "Yi-hyun" (5.96%), "Ji-an" (5.79%), "Yi-an" (5.61%), and "Seo-yoon" (5.40%) with minimal gaps. Most names in the top 10 cluster around 5%, a stark contrast from the past when specific names dominated birth registrations.
This dispersal reflects changes in who names children and their values. From the 1950s to 1980s, naming was practically fixed within the format of "surname + generational character + one or two limited characters" due to the custom of including generational characters. Combined with the repeated selection of safe, proven names, it was common to have multiple children with the same name in a single classroom.
However, today's young parents who value individuality show a clear tendency to avoid top-ranking popular names or prioritize the aesthetics of pronunciation. Names like "Yi-jun" (5.22%), "Ha-jun" (5.06%), "Ji-woo" (5.02%), "Tae-oh" (4.42%), and "Do-ha" (4.26%)—which have soft pronunciations and work well in both Korean and English contexts—were evenly selected. Despite legal restrictions limiting names to "five characters or fewer excluding surname," parents are increasingly choosing names based on pronunciation, image, and individuality.
Dr. Ogihara noted, "It is significant that identical changes are appearing in countries with completely different languages, cultures, and historical contexts," adding that "names are not mere labels but symbolic indicators showing what a society values."