Japanese Female Names 107 



lished an interesting essay upon this subject. He 

 had collected the personal names of about four 

 hundred students of the Higher Normal School 

 for Females, girls from every part of the Em- 

 pire ; and he found on his list only between 

 fifty and sixty names possessing aesthetic quality. 

 But concerning even these he was careful to 

 observe only that they " caused an aesthetic sen- 

 sation," not that they had been given for 

 aesthetic reasons. Among them were such names 

 as Saki (Cape), Mine (Peak), Kisbi (Beach), 

 Hama (Shore), Kuni (Capital), originally 

 place-names; Tsuru (Stork), Ta%u (Ricefield 

 Stork) , and Chi^u (Thousand Storks) ; also 

 such appellations as Yosbino (Fertile Field), 

 Orino (Weavers' Field), ShirusU (Proof), and 

 Masago (Sand). Few of these could seem 

 aesthetic to a Western mind ; and probably no 

 one of them was originally given for aesthetic 

 reasons. Names containing the character for 

 " Stork " are names having reference to longev- 

 ity, not to beauty ; and a large number of names 

 with the termination " no " (field or plain) are 

 names referring to moral qualities. I doubt 

 whether even fifteen per cent of yobina are 

 really aesthetic. A very much larger proportion 



