group-level written forms
Canonical reference record
JMnedict-backedKANJIDIC2 character context
Reference coverageDistinct recorded spellings20 Source spelling/reading rows20 Coverage levelExtended
Extended source depth
This reading group has a comparatively broad dictionary footprint across source-recorded spellings or records. The counts describe corpus coverage, not real-world popularity.
records contributing to this reading group
based only on the imported source footprint
Pronunciation & romanization
How to read Hotaru
The kana reading is source-recorded. Romanization and mora segmentation are deterministic reading aids generated from that kana; pitch accent is not inferred.
Normalized to hiragana for comparison.
The same reading converted to katakana.
Macron-style display. Vowel-sequence form: Hotaru. Personal spelling and true vowel boundaries can differ.
3 morae in this reading. Small ゃ/ゅ/ょ-type kana join the preceding mora.
Audio note: the play button uses Japanese text-to-speech provided by the visitor’s browser/device. It is a convenience preview, not a recorded native-speaker pronunciation or pitch-accent authority.
Meaning by written form
What can Hotaru mean?
A Japanese name can be written in more than one way, and its meaning can change with the kanji used. Rather than assigning one English meaning to “Hotaru”, this page explains each recorded spelling separately.
character meanings available
no kanji meaning attached
based on the exact written form
Kana-only spelling
ほたる
This spelling is written only in kana. Because it contains no kanji, there is no kanji meaning to interpret here. The kana record the name’s sound; any personal or cultural meaning would depend on context not supplied by the dictionary.
Characters and loaded glosses
ほKana characterたKana characterるKana character
Kanji spelling
光織
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
夏蝶
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
帆垂
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
帆多琉
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
帆多留
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
星垂
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
歩垂
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
歩樽
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
火垂
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
火尊
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Kanji spelling
炎多留
These are dictionary meanings for the kanji used in this spelling. Together they can suggest associations, but they do not establish one fixed English translation or a particular person’s naming intent.
Characters and loaded glosses
Showing meaning context for the first 12 distinct written forms out of 20. The recorded-spellings section below retains the wider source set.
How to read these meanings
The English words shown here are dictionary meanings of individual kanji. They help explain what a spelling can suggest, but they are not a guaranteed translation of the full name and do not establish why a particular person was given that name.
Reading profile
How Hotaru is represented
These counts describe records in the imported name corpus. They are not a ranking of how popular a spelling is among people in Japan.
ほたる
among the forms analyzed on this page
in the primary dictionary reading
small ゃ/ゅ/ょ-type kana combine with the preceding mora
recorded spelling
recorded spellings
recorded spellings
recorded spellings
JMnedict classification evidence
How this reading is classified in the source corpus
This separates dictionary classification from popularity. The same exact kana reading can be recorded as a given name, a surname, or both, and given-name records can carry male, female or unspecified source labels.
ほたる in the imported JMnedict corpus
21 source spelling/reading rows
2 source spelling/reading rows
row counts carrying each JMnedict source label
| Exact reading | Given-name evidence | Given-name labels | Surname evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| ほたるHotaru | 2021 source rows | female 21source rows · distinct forms: female 20 | 22 source rows |
Classification boundary: male/female/unspecified are labels attached to imported JMnedict name records. They are not population shares, probabilities, identity claims, or evidence that a spelling is currently common in Japan. A source row can also be repeated across different written forms, so row counts and distinct-writing counts are shown separately.
Spelling anatomy
Corpus structure behind Hotaru
This section summarizes the exact source-recorded forms loaded for this reading group. Stroke and character-position statistics are descriptive corpus properties, not popularity or style scores.
11–35 strokes observed span
among forms with complete KANJIDIC2 stroke data
all component kanji loaded as jōyō/jinmeiyō classes
contains at least one character outside that loaded classification
| Reading | Romanization | Morae | Forms |
|---|---|---|---|
| ほたる | Hotaru | 3 | 20 |
Recurring adjacent kanji sequences
Shown only when the same adjacent two-kanji sequence occurs in at least two analyzed source forms. Open a sequence in Kanji Pair Research for corpus co-occurrence context.
Reading ambiguity
Can the same writing be read another way?
3 of 20 displayed written forms have more than one given-name reading somewhere in the active JMnedict corpus. This is dictionary-record ambiguity, not a prediction of how a particular person reads the name.
distinct spellings displayed on this page
exact written forms with 2+ source readings
within this active given-name corpus
distinct kana readings for one displayed writing
光織
2 source-recorded readings
Hotaruほたる · this pageMioriみおり
蛍
2 source-recorded readings
KeiけいHotaruほたる · this page
螢
2 source-recorded readings
KeiけいHotaruほたる · this page
A reading shown without a link is still source-recorded, but its destination group does not yet meet the reference-depth standard used for the main library. Limited records are not promoted merely to create extra internal links.
Kanji role reference
How recurring characters function across Hotaru spellings
Position counts are calculated only from the distinct written forms analyzed for this page. KANJIDIC2 nanori are character-level name-reading references; they are not used here to decompose or assert the reading of a specific multi-kanji name.
| Kanji | Character glosses | Forms | First | Final | Internal | Solo | Strokes | KANJIDIC2 nanori | Loaded class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 垂 | droop, suspend, hang | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 | たる, だれ | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 6 |
| 多 | many, frequent, much | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2 |
| 穂 | ear, ear (grain), head | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | お, こう, のり, ほい | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 帆 | sail | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 蛍 | lightning-bug, firefly | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 琉 | precious stone, gem, lapis lazuli | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | — | Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9 |
| 留 | detain, fasten, halt | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | とめ | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5 |
| 歩 | walk, counter for steps | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | あ, ゆき, ゆみ | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2 |
| 火 | fire | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1 |
| 光 | ray, light | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | あき, あきら, こお, てる +3 | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2 |
| 織 | weave, fabric | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18 | こおり, こり, のり | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5 |
| 夏 | summer | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2 |
Counts describe this source-recorded spelling set, not population use. A repeated kanji can contribute to more than one position role across different spellings.
Exact writing research map
Move from a spelling to its readings, characters and literal sequence context
These relationships are exact and source-backed. Whole-name readings shown in each card come from JMnedict within the current name class; exact-writing search can surface records from other name classes. Character links open KANJIDIC2-backed kanji pages. Sequence context means the same kanji string occurs contiguously in another recorded written form—it does not prove shared origin or meaning.
Exact written form
ほたる
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
ほKanaたKanaるKana
Exact written form
光織
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this pageMioriみおり
Characters in order
Exact written form
夏蝶
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
帆垂
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
帆多琉
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
帆多留
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
星垂
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
歩垂
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
歩樽
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
火垂
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Hotaruほたる · this page
Characters in order
Showing research maps for the first 10 distinct written forms out of 20. Every detailed spelling card below still links to exact-writing search and its component kanji.
Corpus pattern
Kanji recurring across Hotaru spellings
Only characters appearing in at least two distinct analyzed spellings are shown here. Frequency describes this source-recorded spelling set, not real-world baby-name popularity.
垂droop, suspend, hang5 of 20 analyzed forms多many, frequent, much5 of 20 analyzed forms穂ear, ear (grain), head4 of 20 analyzed forms帆sail3 of 20 analyzed forms蛍lightning-bug, firefly3 of 20 analyzed forms琉precious stone, gem, lapis lazuli2 of 20 analyzed forms留detain, fasten, halt2 of 20 analyzed forms歩walk, counter for steps2 of 20 analyzed forms火fire2 of 20 analyzed forms
Same reading, different writing
Explore written forms of Hotaru
20 source-recorded forms use the primary source reading ほたる. Other source readings can appear in this romanized group when the imported records converge on the same index form. Use Compare to inspect exact spellings side by side.
ほたる
ほたる · Hotaru
This written form uses kana rather than kanji, so there are no character-level kanji glosses to combine.
Character-set checkKana spelling
光織
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported given-name corpus.
夏蝶
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
帆垂
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
帆多琉
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
帆多留
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
星垂
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
歩垂
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
歩樽
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
火垂
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
火尊
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
炎多留
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
穂垂
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
穂多琉
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
穂多瑠
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
穂足
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
蛍
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported given-name corpus.
蛍来
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
螢
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkContains at least one kanji outside the loaded jōyō/jinmeiyō classification
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported given-name corpus.
飛蛍
ほたる · Hotaru
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Spelling comparator
Compare Hotaru forms side by side
Each exact written spelling appears once in this table even when JMnedict records more than one reading for that writing. Stroke totals and character glosses come from KANJIDIC2 when all component kanji are available.
| Spelling | One source reading | Character-level glosses | Total strokes | Loaded character class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ほたる | ほたる | Kana-only spelling | — | Kana spelling |
| 光織 | ほたる | 光 — ray, light · 織 — weave, fabric | 24 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 夏蝶 | ほたる | 夏 — summer · 蝶 — butterfly | 25 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 帆垂 | ほたる | 帆 — sail · 垂 — droop, suspend | 14 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 帆多琉 | ほたる | 帆 — sail · 多 — many, frequent · 琉 — precious stone, gem | 23 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 帆多留 | ほたる | 帆 — sail · 多 — many, frequent · 留 — detain, fasten | 22 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 星垂 | ほたる | 星 — star, spot · 垂 — droop, suspend | 17 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 歩垂 | ほたる | 歩 — walk, counter for steps · 垂 — droop, suspend | 16 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 歩樽 | ほたる | 歩 — walk, counter for steps · 樽 — barrel, cask | 24 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 火垂 | ほたる | 火 — fire · 垂 — droop, suspend | 12 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 火尊 | ほたる | 火 — fire · 尊 — revered, valuable | 16 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 炎多留 | ほたる | 炎 — inflammation, flame · 多 — many, frequent · 留 — detain, fasten | 24 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 穂垂 | ほたる | 穂 — ear, ear (grain) · 垂 — droop, suspend | 23 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 穂多琉 | ほたる | 穂 — ear, ear (grain) · 多 — many, frequent · 琉 — precious stone, gem | 32 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 穂多瑠 | ほたる | 穂 — ear, ear (grain) · 多 — many, frequent · 瑠 — lapis lazuli | 35 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 穂足 | ほたる | 穂 — ear, ear (grain) · 足 — leg, foot | 22 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
The comparison table shows the first 16 distinct written forms; the detailed cards above show up to 80 spelling/reading records.
What does Hotaru mean?
There is not necessarily one fixed English meaning. The reading identifies the spoken name; different written forms can use different kanji. Character glosses describe individual kanji and should not be treated as proof of the intention behind a particular person’s name.
Related readings
More names beginning with ほた
Related by the opening kana of the dictionary reading. This is a deterministic browsing relationship, not a claim that the names share the same meaning.
Shared-kanji relationships
Other names sharing kanji with Hotaru
These links are calculated from exact characters appearing in source-recorded spellings on this page. Sharing a kanji does not mean two names have the same reading, origin, gender or intended meaning.
Given-name relationship
Miho
光帆歩火穂
5 shared kanji · 66 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipMihoko
光帆歩火穂
5 shared kanji · 27 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipKaori
多帆歩火穂
5 shared kanji · 13 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipKeiho
帆歩火穂蛍
5 shared kanji · 8 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipHonoka
帆歩火穂
4 shared kanji · 85 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipKaho
帆歩火穂
4 shared kanji · 55 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipMizuho
光帆歩穂
4 shared kanji · 40 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipSaho
帆歩火穂
4 shared kanji · 34 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipYukiho
帆歩穂蛍
4 shared kanji · 30 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipRuka
光火琉留
4 shared kanji · 28 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipNahoko
帆歩火穂
4 shared kanji · 22 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Given-name relationshipKaoru
帆琉留穂
4 shared kanji · 17 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Evidence on this page
What each source establishes
JMnedict establishes recorded written forms, readings and name classifications; where safely associated, this page can also show JMnedict-supplied trans_det source text without treating it as a whole-name meaning. KANJIDIC2 supplies character readings, nanori, stroke counts, grade classes and English character glosses. The Ministry of Justice remains the official reference for Japanese child-name character rules. The Agency for Cultural Affairs romanization guidance is the reference for generated Latin-script reading aids.
Source boundary
The spelling-frequency and structural counts on this page are calculated from imported JMnedict records. They are corpus counts, not population-frequency claims. KANJIDIC2 supplies the kanji metadata used in character and stroke comparisons.
Review sources →