Abstract
Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that unique names increased in Japan, which shows a rise in uniqueness-seeking and individualism. To increase the validity of the prior findings, it is important to confirm the robustness of their results. Therefore, this study examined another indicator of historical changes in names in Japan. Specifically, I investigated whether the rates of common names decreased in Japan between 2004 and 2018. The dataset used in the previous study was analyzed. The results consistently showed that the rates of common names decreased for both boys and girls for the period. These results were consistent with the previous research, which further increases the validity of the finding that Japanese culture became more individualistic.
Highlights
Ogihara et al (2015) demonstrated that the rates of common Chinese characters used in baby names increased but the rates of common readings decreased in Japan between 2004 and 2013
As predicted, the rates of common names decreased for both boys and girls between 2004 and 2018 in Japan, showing an increase in uniqueness-seeking and individualism
These results are consistent with previous research on names (Ogihara, 2021a; Ogihara et al, 2015), confirming that the prior findings are valid and robust
Summary
Ogihara et al (2015) demonstrated that the rates of common Chinese characters used in baby names increased but the rates of common readings decreased in Japan between 2004 and 2013 They showed that writing variations of names decreased but reading variations increased for the period. Ogihara (2021a) directly examined whether the rates of unique names, rather than common names, increased by analyzing datasets of baby names that includes both writings and readings. This shows that unique names increased in Japan between 2004 and 2018, consistent with the prior study (Ogihara et al, 2015). Based on the previous findings that unique names increased in Japan (Ogihara, 2021a), it was hypothesized that the rates of common names had decreased in Japan
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