Last updated: 2026-09-07

Baby Name Character Rules - Comparing Naming Restrictions Around the World

In Japan, there is no legal limit on the number of characters in a name. In Portugal, the number of words a name may contain is set by law: up to 2 given names plus 4 surnames, for a total of 6. In New Zealand, the name "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii" was rejected by a court. Baby naming rules vary astonishingly from country to country. Character limits, permitted character types, prohibited names - comparing naming regulations reveals the culture and values of each nation in vivid detail.

Japan's Naming Rules - No Character Limit, but Character Type Restrictions

Japan's Family Register Act does not set an upper limit on the number of characters in a name. In theory, a 100-character name could be registered. However, there are strict restrictions on which characters can be used.

The amended Family Register Act, passed in 2023, came into force on 26 May 2025, and the furigana reading of a name is now one of the items recorded in the family register. Article 13 of the Act limits that reading to one "generally accepted as a reading of the characters used in a name." A reading that is not generally accepted for the character in question, such as writing "光宙" and reading it as "Pikachu," may be refused at the municipal office.

In practice, the vast majority of Japanese given names consist of 1-3 kanji characters. The names at the top of the rankings published every year are one or two characters long, and names of four characters or more barely appear at all. Although the law sets no upper limit on length, custom keeps the lengths parents actually choose within a fairly narrow band.

Naming Restrictions Around the World - Strict Countries and Free Countries

Comparing naming rules across countries reveals that character and word count restrictions vary dramatically.

Iceland's Naming Committee (Mannanafnanefnd) is one of the world's strictest naming review bodies. Only names that conform to Icelandic grammar rules, can be written in the Icelandic alphabet, and do not disadvantage the child are approved. Since the letter "C" is not part of the Icelandic alphabet, names like "Carolina" are rejected.

In Portugal, names must be chosen from a government-maintained approved list, with given names limited to a maximum of 2 words, surnames to 4, and the full name to 6 words in total. If you want a name not on the list, you must apply individually and undergo review. The spelling must also follow Portuguese orthography, so names containing k, y or w, and older spellings such as Luiz for Luís, are as a rule not accepted.

Rejected Names - The Boundary Between Character Count and Common Sense

Cases of names rejected by courts and government agencies around the world illustrate the boundary between naming freedom and children's rights.

The 43-character Swedish name was submitted in 1996. It began when the parents did not register a name by their child's fifth birthday and a district court fined them. They put the name forward in protest and described it as an artistic creation, but the court did not accept it and the fine was not withdrawn. The name was supposedly pronounced "Albin," but deriving that pronunciation from the 43-character spelling is impossible.

Japan's "Akuma" (Devil) case in 1993 involved a father attempting to name his firstborn son "悪魔" (Devil). The municipal office refused to accept it, and after a family court hearing, a different name was ultimately registered. While Japanese Writing Rules covers character type restrictions, in the case of names, "meaning" also becomes subject to review.

The World's Longest Name - Guinness Record Naming

The "world's longest name" registered in the Guinness World Records boasts an astonishing character count.

German-American Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff had a full name spanning 746 characters. However, this was a legal name change made as an adult, not a birth name.

Among long names given at birth, the baptismal names of British aristocrats are famous. In Victorian-era Britain, the custom of incorporating the names of all relatives and godparents meant that having 10 or more middle names was not uncommon.

Kira-Kira Names and Character Count - Japan's Naming Trends

Since the 2000s in Japan, unconventional names that deviate from traditional naming customs - known as "kira-kira names" (sparkly names) - have become a social phenomenon.

One characteristic of kira-kira names is that the kanji readings tend to be longer. Names like "光宙" (Pikachu = 5 syllables), "黄熊" (Pooh = 2 syllables), and "泡姫" (Ariel = 4 syllables) show cases where the phonetic reading is unusually long (or short) relative to the 2-character kanji.

Now that the amended Family Register Act, in force since 26 May 2025, has made furigana an item recorded in the register, kira-kira names are expected to face some brakes. Readings that depart sharply from the conventional pronunciation of the kanji may prompt reconsideration at the municipal office.

What the law sets out, however, is only the standard of a reading "generally accepted as a reading of the characters used in a name." There is no list enumerating which readings may and may not be used. A reading whose link to the character cannot be explained, such as writing "太郎" (Taro) and reading it as "Michael," is unlikely to be accepted; but how far a reading that can be associated with the sense of a character falls inside "generally accepted" is not a line the wording alone can draw. Since the judgment builds up through the municipal offices that receive the notifications, some variation in handling is likely for the time being.

Passports and Name Length - The Romanization Barrier

When Japanese citizens travel abroad, their names are written in Hepburn romanization on passports. This romanization conversion significantly changes the character count.

In Hepburn romanization, "sho" becomes "SHO" (3 characters) and "ryu" becomes "RYU" (3 characters) - sometimes shorter than the Japanese syllable count. Conversely, "Hiroto" becomes "HIROTO" (6 characters), tripling from the 2-character kanji.

Airline reservation systems (GDS) have character limits for name fields, typically around 30-40 characters for the full name. Japanese names usually fit within 15 characters when romanized, but as explained in Fullwidth vs. Halfwidth Character Differences, character encoding differences can cause system issues.

Seimei Handan and Stroke Count - A Different Kind of "Number" in Names

Japan has a unique cultural practice called "seimei handan" (name fortune-telling) that divines fortune based on the stroke count of kanji in a name. The emphasis on stroke count rather than character count is a phenomenon unique to Japan's kanji culture.

In seimei handan, five "aspects" are calculated: tenkaku (total strokes of the surname), jinkaku (sum of the last character of the surname and first character of the given name), chikaku (total strokes of the given name), gaikaku, and sokaku. For example, "田中太郎" (Tanaka Taro) has "田" (5 strokes) + "中" (4 strokes) + "太" (4 strokes) + "郎" (9 strokes) = 22 total strokes.

Parents who care about stroke count prioritize strokes over character count when choosing names. "翔" (12 strokes) and "翼" (17 strokes) are both single characters but differ by 5 strokes. Since different schools of seimei handan have different criteria for "auspicious stroke counts," a name considered lucky in one school may be considered unlucky in another.

Seimei handan is fortune-telling without scientific basis, but it is deeply rooted in Japanese naming culture. As the continued sale of naming books and seimei handan services suggests, parents who narrow down their candidates by stroke count are far from rare. In Japan, where there is no character count limit for names, stroke count functions as a de facto "hidden constraint."

Pet Names - A World of Naming Freedom Beyond Humans

While human names have legal constraints, pet names have virtually none. This freedom creates distinctive trends in pet naming.

Looking at the name rankings that pet insurers and similar companies publish each year, the names at the top for both dogs and cats are 2-3 character names in Japanese, such as "Mugi" and "Koko." They are shorter than human names because owners say them out loud many times a day. Think of calling a name on a walk or in a veterinary waiting room: a name longer than 4 characters gets shortened partway through, and ends up settling into a 2-3 character pet form. Ease of calling comes first precisely because of this difference in how the name is used every day.

Racehorse names are restricted to 2-9 katakana characters by the horse name registration standards set by Japan's studbook registration body. Single-character horse names have also been disallowed since 2002. The fact that many names like "Deep Impact" (9 characters in katakana) use nearly the full 9-character limit may reflect the depth of feeling owners invest in their horses. Names of 10 or more characters cannot be registered, so condensing meaning into the limit, as with "Silence Suzuka" (8 characters), requires creative ingenuity.

How Name Length Affects Life

Name length impacts daily life in surprising ways. The time it takes to write your name on a test answer sheet, business card layout, email signature fields. Short names are faster to write; long names are more memorable.

An American study (Laham et al., 2012) found that people with short, easy-to-pronounce names tend to be rated more favorably than those without. The "processing fluency" of a name unconsciously influences likability.

In business card design, name length matters too. Japanese names are typically 3-6 characters for the full name, but expand to 8-15 characters in romanization. Bilingual business cards that include both Japanese and romanized versions can have the name alone occupying two lines. People with longer names face more layout challenges on business cards.

The time spent writing your name on school tests is also proportional to character count. "田中太" (3 characters) and "長谷川翔太郎" (6 characters) have a 2x difference in writing time. Over dozens of tests per year across 6 years of elementary school, the cumulative difference is non-trivial. Of course, this isn't a decisive factor in choosing a name, but it's one example of how character count affects small everyday moments.

When thinking about a baby's name, character count is a surprisingly important factor. Ease of writing, ease of calling, ease of remembering - all are influenced by character count. Naming Conventions and Character Count applies not just to the programming world but to human names as well.