What’s in a name? Japan bans flashy baby names like Pikachu and Nike

A revised law now requires names in the Japanese national family registry to include phonetic readings. - Illustrative photo: Pixabay

TOKYO: Japan has imposed rules to curb how parents choose to pronounce their children’s names, targeting a trend known as kira-kira – the Japanese onomatopoeia for “shiny” or “sparkly” – names.

Kira-kira refers to names that use kanji, or Chinese characters, but are read in ways that make the names unusual, contradictory or unrelated to the words’ meanings. This can include giving traditional names a misleading or foreign-sounding twist.