Ask John: Are There Any Male & Female Characters That Share Names?
Question:
While currently re-watching 1999’s BETTERMAN, it just occurred to me that the titular male character shares the same name as the principal female character from 1984’s puppet-action series, STAR FLEET – namely, “Lamia.”
Is this one of those very rare instances where that has happened, or are you aware of other occasions where male and female characters in the world of anime – even across different series and settings – share the same name?
Answer:
Similar to common occidental names like “Jessie,” “Devon,” and “Ryan” that suit both genders, there are Japanese given names applicable to boys and girls. With the sheer number of anime characters in existance, I’m sure I won’t be able to identify all of the male and female anime characters that share a given name, but I can identify a few.
Hikaru is a popular gender neutral name. We have the male Hikaru Ichijo from Macross and Hikaru Hitachiin from Ouran High School Host Club, as well as Rayearth’s female Hikaru Shidou and Orange Road’s Hikaru Hiyama.
The male protagonist of Ai Yori Aoshi is Kaoru Hanabishi. Ouran High School Host Club’s Kaoru Hitachiin is also male. Kaoru Kamiya of Rurouni Kenshin is female.
Yuri is typically a female name – for example Yuri of the Dirty Pair, and Wedding Peach’s Yuri Tanima. But Kyo Kara Maoh’s Yuri Shibuya is male.
My Hime’s Natsuki Kuga is female while Minami-ke’s Natsuki Minami is male.
Akira E. Ferrari of Aria and Akira Souya of Dragonaut are female. Akira Toya of Hikaru no Go and the titular Akira of Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga and movie are male.
Makoto Ashirai of Chocotto Sister, Makoto Kino of Sailor Moon, Makoto Swawtari of Kanon, and Makoto Konno of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo are female. Rurouni Kenshin’s Makoto Shishio and School Days’ Makoto Ito are male.
Kei is one half of the female Dirty Pair duo. Kei is also the name of the male romantic interest in Project A-ko 3.
If unconventional names are included, Lufy of Gall Force is female while Lufy D. Monkey of One Piece is male.
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The Gantz anime and manga series actually poke fun at this a bit. The male main character of the TV series and Phase 1 of the manga, Kei Kurono, meets a girl in the “game” named named Kei Kishimoto. If I recall correctly, they actually make references to this coincidence from time to time.
Kurai’s comment reminded me to mention other male and female “Kei” characters. I didn’t originally include this example because I forgot about Kei Kurono, and I’d always thought that the Kei in Project A-ko 3 was named “K” and not “Kei,” but apparently his name is commonly spelled “Kei.”