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ArchivesRe: Aisato
in reply to a message by ClaudiaS
Japanese names can be written many different ways by combining the different ideographic and syllabic writing systems. It generally has little bearing on meaning, the idiosyncratic and enigmatic spellings (which often need to be explained to other Japanese speakers) being a traditional means of legal identity control. It also makes it extremely difficult to get an accurate idea of how popular are specific names, as one name can have literally a dozen different ways of being written in the record, and many readings will only be recognized correctly by close friends and family.
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This is basically true, although I think you underestimate the impact of kanji on "meaning" of a name. Many parents select kanji very carefully, although others use them merely for the phonetic value.
Fortunately, the database I have of Japanese girl's names sorts by reading (hiragana), so I know there were no other combinations pronounced Aisato in that extensive list. Also, the annual Meiji Yasuda popularity survey (http://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/sp/enjoy/ranking/) supplies two lists, one by"most frequent spelling" and the other by "most frequent pronunciation." It's interesting to see how different the two are. For instance, in 2016 the most popular girl's name by spelling was 葵 (Aoi, Ao, Ei or Himari), but the most popular by pronunciation was Hina.
Fortunately, the database I have of Japanese girl's names sorts by reading (hiragana), so I know there were no other combinations pronounced Aisato in that extensive list. Also, the annual Meiji Yasuda popularity survey (http://www.meijiyasuda.co.jp/sp/enjoy/ranking/) supplies two lists, one by"most frequent spelling" and the other by "most frequent pronunciation." It's interesting to see how different the two are. For instance, in 2016 the most popular girl's name by spelling was 葵 (Aoi, Ao, Ei or Himari), but the most popular by pronunciation was Hina.
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