葵
あおい
aoi
= hollyhock (the plant); Aoi (Japanese given name, used for both boys and girls)
葵 (Aoi) is a Japanese given name used for both boys and girls — notably one of Japan’s most gender-neutral names. The character means hollyhock (a flowering plant), but the sound ‘aoi’ also shares phonetics with the adjective 青い (aoi — blue, green), which connects the name to youth, freshness, and the vast sky. The hollyhock葵 is also the crest of the Tokugawa shogunate — one of history’s most powerful family emblems.
Aoi (葵) as a name can be written with several kanji: 葵 (hollyhock plant — most common for this name), 碧 (aoi — deep blue-green), 蒼 (aoi — blue, vast), 藍 (ai — indigo). As a common noun: 葵 (aoi/ki) = the hollyhock or mallow plant (various species of the Malvaceae family). The Tokugawa clan used a specific three-leaf hollyhock crest (三つ葉葵, mitsuba-aoi) as their family emblem (家紋, kamon).
Aoi’s gender-neutrality is significant: Japan has relatively few gender-neutral names, and Aoi is one of the most common. In recent years, Aoi has been more popular as a girls’ name, but it remains well-used for boys. Famous people named Aoi include actress 蒼井優 (Aoi Yu — written differently but same sound) and the musician Aoi (葵, guitarist). The three-leaf hollyhock (三つ葉葵) Tokugawa crest appears throughout Nikko Toshogu and Edo-era architecture — if you know the葵 character, you’ll recognize it instantly.
葵 combines the grass radical (⺾) over the phonetic component 癸 (ki/sui), one of the ten heavenly stems in the traditional calendar system. The character specifically refers to plants of the mallow/hollyhock family. The reading ‘aoi’ (as in the name) is the kun’yomi; the on’yomi is ‘ki’ — less commonly used. The near-homophone 青い (aoi — blue/green adjective) often influences how the name is perceived despite using a completely different kanji.
Everyday use
「娘の名前は葵です。青空みたいに自由に育ってほしくて」
‘Musume no namae wa Aoi desu. Aozora mitai ni jiyuu ni sodatte hoshikute.’
‘My daughter’s name is Aoi. We named her hoping she’d grow up free like the blue sky.’
Casual / Social Media
葵って名前は男女どっちにも使えるのが好き 響きもきれいだし漢字も素敵
Aoi tte namae wa danjo docchi ni mo tsukaeruno ga suki Hibiki mo kirei da shi kanji mo suteki
I like that the name Aoi can be used for both boys and girls. The sound is beautiful and the kanji is lovely too
Formal / Cultural context
「葵」という名前は植物名（アオイ科の植物）に由来しつつ、同音の形容詞「青い（aoi）」が喚起する色彩意象（空・海・若さ・清新）と重なる多義的名前として機能する。徳川家康の家紋「三つ葉葵」への歴史的連想も名前の品格に寄与している。現代日本の中性的名前として男女双方に用いられ、2020年代の命名調査においても男女ランキング上位に継続してランクインする稀有な両性的名前の代表例となっている。
‘Aoi’ to iu namae wa shokubutsu-mei (Aoi-ka no shokubutsu) ni yurai shitsutsu, dooon no keiyoushi ‘aoi’ ga kanki suru shikisai ishou (sora umi wakasa seishin) to kasanaru taigi-teki namae toshite kinou suru. Tokugawa Ieyasu no kamon ‘mitsuba-aoi’ e no rekishi-teki renso mo namae no hinkaku ni kiyo shite iru. Gendai Nihon no chuusei-teki namae toshite danjo souhou ni mochiirarete, 2020-nendai no meimei chousa ni oite mo danjo rankingu joui ni keizoku shite ranku-in suru mare na ryousei-teki namae no daihyou-rei to natte iru.
The name ‘Aoi’ functions as a polysemous name that derives from a plant name (plants of the Malvaceae family) while overlapping with the color imagery (sky, sea, youth, freshness) evoked by the homophonous adjective ‘aoi (blue/green).’ Historical associations with Tokugawa Ieyasu’s family crest ‘mitsuba-aoi’ also contribute to the name’s dignity. As a gender-neutral name in contemporary Japan used for both boys and girls, it continues to rank highly in both male and female naming surveys in the 2020s, representing a rare example of truly androgynous naming.
三つ葉葵 (mitsuba-aoi — three-leaf hollyhock) is one of Japan’s most historically significant family crests (家紋, kamon). As the crest of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868), which unified Japan and ruled for over 250 years, the mitsuba-aoi appeared on everything from Edo Castle gates to official documents. Today it appears at Nikko Toshogu shrine (Tokugawa Ieyasu’s mausoleum), on Tokyo’s Asakusa Sensoji lanterns, and throughout traditional architecture associated with the Tokugawa period. Recognizing the 葵 character instantly unlocks this visual vocabulary.
名前の響き (namae no hibiki — the sound of a name) is a primary consideration in Japanese naming. Aoi’s sound — a single smooth word with no hard consonants — is considered 響きがいい (hibiki ga ii — having a pleasant sound). Japanese name aesthetics value names that sound harmonious, that don’t share sounds with negative words, and that have appropriate on/kun yomi kanji. Aoi’s ‘blue sky’ acoustic association is part of what makes it feel 清々しい (sugasugashii — refreshing, bracing, clear) — an aesthetic quality parents deliberately invoke when choosing the name.
Disclosure: This site may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.