Previous literature has mentioned the difficulty in reading recent Japanese names correctly. However, this difficulty has not been empirically demonstrated. Thus, it is unclear to what extent and how it is difficult. Therefore, this paper provides empirical evidence of the difficulty in reading Japanese names correctly. Data including names of babies born between 2004 and 2018 were analyzed. The results showed that common writings have many variations in reading, which makes it difficult (or almost impossible) to choose the correct reading among many options. For example, one of the common writings for boys, 大翔 had 18 variations in reading, and for girls, 結愛 had 14 variations in reading. These variations differed remarkably in pronunciation, length, and meaning. Empirically reporting this difficulty in reading Japanese names correctly contributes to a better understanding of naming practices not only in Japan but also in vast regions where Chinese characters are/were used.

以前的文献提到正确阅读最近的日本名字的困难。然而，这种困难尚未得到经验证明。因此，目前还不清楚这在多大程度上以及如何困难。因此，本文提供了正确阅读日本人名困难的经验证据。分析了包括 2004 年至 2018 年间出生的婴儿姓名在内的数据。结果表明，常见的写作在阅读上有很多变化，这使得很难（或几乎不可能）在众多选项中选择正确的阅读方式。比如男生常见的写作之一《大翔》，阅读有18个变体，女生《结爱》，阅读有14个变体。这些变体在发音、长度和含义上都有显着差异。