The jinmeiyō kanji 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". "Jinmeiyō kanji" is sometimes used to refer to the characters in both the jinmeiyō and jōyō lists. A ministerial decree of 1946 limited the number of officially sanctioned kanji for public use to the 1850 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. In Japan, name kanji are taught at the junior-high level, and mastery of the name kanji is required to achieve Level 2 of the Kanji Kentei, a Chinese-character proficiency test.
History
Below is a list of changes made to the jinmeiyō kanji list since its creation in 1951.
May 25, 1951
First 92 characters of jinmeiyō kanji were published: 丑 丞 乃 之 也 亘 亥 亦 亨 亮 伊 匡 卯 只 吾 呂 哉 嘉 圭 奈 宏 寅 巌 巳 庄 弘 弥 彦 悌 敦 昌 晃 晋 智 暢 朋 桂 桐 楠 橘 欣 欽 毅 浩 淳 熊 爾 猪 玲 琢 瑞 睦 磯 祐 禄 禎 稔 穣 綾 惣 聡 肇 胤 艶 蔦 藤 蘭 虎 蝶 輔 辰 郁 酉 錦 鎌 靖 須 馨 駒 鯉 鯛 鶴 鹿 麿 亀 Seven of them were later transferred to the jōyō kanji: 仙 尚 杉 甚 磨 斉 龍, the last one 龍 being simplified to 竜.
28 kanji were added, for a total of 120 characters. 佑 允 冴 喬 怜 旭 杏 梓 梢 梨 沙 渚 瑠 瞳 紗 紘 絢 翠 耶 芙 茜 藍 那 阿 隼 鮎 葵 One was later transferred to the jōyō kanji: 悠.
Introduction of the jōyō kanji list, which includes the 8 characters mentioned above; those 8 are thus deleted from the jinmeyō kanji list. 54 other characters are added for a total of 166 name characters. 伍 伶 侑 尭 孟 峻 嵩 嶺 巴 彬 惇 惟 慧 斐 旦 昂 李 栗 楓 槙 汐 洵 洸 渥 瑛 瑶 璃 甫 皓 眸 矩 碧 笹 緋 翔 脩 苑 茉 莉 萌 萩 蓉 蕗 虹 諒 赳 迪 遥 遼 霞 頌 駿 鳩 鷹
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:
苺
遙
煌
牙
Many others were included not for their potential uses in names, but rather because of their frequent use and being easy to read and write. Examples include:
糞
呪
屍
癌
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
呪
屍
癌
姦
淫
怨
痔
妾
The 480 other characters still remained under consideration for inclusion, with one additional character added to them, namely 掬.
September 27, 2004
484 characters and variant forms of 209 jōyō kanji were added, bringing the total number of the jinmeiyō kanji to 983.
April 30, 2009
2 more characters for a total number of 985 characters. 祷 穹
November 30, 2010
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:
茨
媛
岡
韓
熊
埼
栃
奈
梨
阪
阜
At the same time, 5 characters deleted from the jōyō kanji list were added to the jinmeiyō kanji list, making the total number of jinmeiyō kanji 861:
The modern form, which appears in the Jōyō Kanji List, is given in brackets.
Actual usage in names
Usage of the Jinmeiyō Kanji in Japanese names varies widely. For example, 之, is used in over 6000 names, and the 53 kanji used most commonly in names are all in over 500 names each.
