The jinmeiyō kanji (人名用漢字, Japanese pronunciation:[dʑimmeːjoːkaꜜɲdʑi], lit.'kanji for use in personal names') are a set of 863 Chinese characters known as "name kanji" in English. They are a supplementary list of characters that can legally be used in registered personal names in Japan, despite not being in the official list of "commonly used characters" (jōyō kanji). "Jinmeiyō kanji" is sometimes used to refer to the characters in both the jinmeiyō and jōyō lists because some Japanese names do not require the specified jinmeiyō kanji and are written entirely in jōyō kanji. Hence, jōyō kanji can also be viewed as a subset of jinmeiyō kanji.[citation needed]
Aministerial decree of 1946 limited the number of officially sanctioned kanji for public use to the 1,850 tōyō kanji. Only kanji on this list were acceptable as registered names, despite the fact that the list excluded many kanji frequently used in names up to that point. However, on May 25, 1951, the cabinet extended the set of characters usable in names by specifying the first 90 jinmeiyō kanji.
Over the years, the Minister of Justice has increased the number of name kanji, and has a plan for further addition in response to requests from parents. As of April 30, 2009, there were 985 jinmeiyō kanji, but this number was reduced to 861 in late 2010 when 129 jinmeiyō characters were transferred to the jōyō kanji list, and 5 characters were transferred from the jōyō kanji list to jinmeiyō characters. In 2015 and 2017, 2 kanji in total were added to the jinmeiyō list, making the total number 863.
The jōyō kanji list was introduced, which included seven of the original 92 jinmeiyō kanji from 1951 (mentioned above), plus one of the 28 new jinmeiyō kanji from 1976 (also mentioned above); those eight were thus removed from the jinmeiyō kanji list.
54 other characters were added for a total of 166 name characters.
No addition to the jinmeiyō kanji was made on this date. However, a plan for 578 additions was put forward to the council on jinmeiyō kanji of the legislative council of the Ministry of Justice. The list included certain characters in strong demand by parents for use in their children's names, such as:
Many others were included not for their potential uses in names (as is noted), but rather because of their frequent use and being easy to read and write. Examples include:
糞 (kuso, "excrement")
呪 (noroi, "curse")
屍 (shikabane, "corpse")
癌 (gan, "cancer")
At this same council, the decision was made to call for suggestions on characters to be included or excluded via the Ministry of Justice website, until July 9, 2004.
No additions were made. After sharp protests, the council decided to withdraw nine characters from the 489 whose inclusion had been discussed. These nine characters were:
糞 (kuso, "excrement")
呪 (noroi, "curse")
屍 (shikabane, "corpse")
癌 (gan, "cancer")
姦 (kan, "rape, seduction")
淫 (midara, "obscene")
怨 (urami, "resentment")
痔 (ji, "hemorrhoids")
妾 (mekake, "concubine")
The 480 other characters still remained under consideration for inclusion, with one additional character added to them, namely 掬 (kiku, "to draw up water with one's hands").
In late 2010, the Japanese government added 196 characters to the jōyō kanji list. The list now includes 129 characters previously classified as jinmeiyō kanji, 11 of which are currently used in Japanese prefectures or nearby countries:[1][2]
633 characters which do not appear in the list of jōyō kanji (regular-use kanji). 18 of these have a variant, bringing the number of character forms to 651.
212 characters which are traditional forms (kyūjitai) of characters present in the list of jōyō kanji.
Below are the 18 characters that are variant forms of characters in the list above. For each variant form, the corresponding standard form ("non-variant" form) is in parentheses.
Usage of the jinmeiyō kanji in Japanese names varies widely. For example, 之, is used in over 6,000 names, and the 53 kanji used most commonly in names are all in over 500 names each.[6]
^Shiraishi, Akihiko (23 October 2009). "「柿」など9字追加、「鷹」は選外 新常用漢字の修正案" [New draft table adds 196 everyday-use kanji]. Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
