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Evidence-led referenceJapanese names, readings and kanji
japanesenameatlas.infoJapanese name reference
Canonical reference record
JMnedict-backedKANJIDIC2 character context
Japanese given name

Kotoko

ことこ

Female-classified given-name records.

ことこコトコKotoko
Compare spellings
Reference coverage

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.

Distinct recorded spellings22

group-level written forms

Source spelling/reading rows23

records contributing to this reading group

Coverage levelExtended

based only on the imported source footprint

Pronunciation & romanization

How to read Kotoko

The kana reading is source-recorded. Romanization and mora segmentation are deterministic reading aids generated from that kana; pitch accent is not inferred.

Source readingことこ

Normalized to hiragana for comparison.

Katakana formコトコ

The same reading converted to katakana.

RomanizationKotoko

Macron-style display. Vowel-sequence form: Kotoko. Personal spelling and true vowel boundaries can differ.

Mora segmentationこ · と · こ

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 Kotoko 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 “Kotoko”, this page explains each recorded spelling separately.

Kanji spellings11

character meanings available

Kana-only spellings1

no kanji meaning attached

InterpretationBy spelling

based on the exact written form

Kana-only spelling

ことこ

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
こKana characterとKana characterこKana character
Mixed kanji and kana spelling

コト子

This spelling combines kanji and kana. Dictionary meanings are shown only for the kanji characters; the kana represent sound and do not add a kanji-derived English meaning.

Characters and loaded glosses
コKana characterトKana character子child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM
Mixed kanji and kana spelling

こと子

This spelling combines kanji and kana. Dictionary meanings are shown only for the kanji characters; the kana represent sound and do not add a kanji-derived English meaning.

Characters and loaded glosses
こKana characterとKana character子child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM
Kanji spelling

古都子

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.

Kanji spelling

宜子

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.

Kanji spelling

来冬子

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.

Showing meaning context for the first 12 distinct written forms out of 23. 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 Kotoko 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.

Recorded kana readings2

ことこ · コトこ

Kanji-based spellings22

among the forms analyzed on this page

Kana characters3

in the primary dictionary reading

Morae3

small ゃ/ゅ/ょ-type kana combine with the preceding mora

Kana-only1

recorded spelling

1-kanji forms2

recorded spellings

2-kanji forms15

recorded spellings

3-kanji forms5

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.

Primary reading recorded asGiven name

ことこ in the imported JMnedict corpus

Given-name written forms22

23 source spelling/reading rows

Surname written forms0

0 source spelling/reading rows

Given-name labelsfemale 23

row counts carrying each JMnedict source label

Exact readingGiven-name evidenceGiven-name labelsSurname evidence
ことこKotoko2223 source rowsfemale 23source rows · distinct forms: female 2200 source rows
ことこKotoko00 source rows—source rows · distinct forms: —00 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 Kotoko

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.

Kanji forms with complete stroke data22

3–26 strokes observed span

Median total strokes16

among forms with complete KANJIDIC2 stroke data

All-kanji name-classified forms22

all component kanji loaded as jōyō/jinmeiyō classes

Other/unclassified kanji forms0

contains at least one character outside that loaded classification

Recurring adjacent kanji sequences
都子4 analyzed forms

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?

12 of 23 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.

Written forms checked23

distinct spellings displayed on this page

Multiple recorded readings12

exact written forms with 2+ source readings

Single recorded reading10

within this active given-name corpus

Largest reading set11

distinct kana readings for one displayed writing

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 Kotoko 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.

KanjiCharacter glossesFormsFirstFinalInternalSoloStrokesKANJIDIC2 nanoriLoaded class
子child, sign of the rat, 11PM-1AM17017003い, き, ぎ, く +2Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1
琴harp, koto7700012—Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
都capital, metropolis4004011—Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 10
公public, prince, official110004あきら, き, きみ, きん +5Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2
功achievement, merits, success110005いさ, かつ, くぬ, ぐう +5Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
古old110005ふゆJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2
宜best regards, good110008き, たか, のぶ, のり +1Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
寿longevity, congratulations, one's natural life110007かず, じ, じゅう, すっ +9Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
小little, small110003いさら, こう, さざ, しゃお +1Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1
幹tree trunk, main part, talent1100013つよし, まさ, もと, えだ +9Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5
承acquiesce, hear, listen to110008つぐ, こと, すけ, つぎ +2Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 6
来come, due, next110007くり, くる, ごろ, さ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

ことこ

Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Kotokoことこ · this page
Characters in order
こKanaとKanaこKana
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Other public forms containing the same contiguous sequence

The exact sequence 功子 appears contiguously inside these other source-recorded forms.

Showing research maps for the first 10 distinct written forms out of 23. Every detailed spelling card below still links to exact-writing search and its component kanji.

Corpus pattern

Kanji recurring across Kotoko 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.

Same reading, different writing

Explore written forms of Kotoko

23 source-recorded forms use the primary source reading ことこ. 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.

ことこ

ことこ · Kotoko

Katakana コトコMorae 3Strokes —

This written form uses kana rather than kanji, so there are no character-level kanji glosses to combine.

Spelling comparator

Compare Kotoko 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.

SpellingOne source readingCharacter-level glossesTotal strokesLoaded character class
ことこことこKana-only spelling—Kana spelling
コト子コトこ子 — child, sign of the rat3All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
こと子ことこ子 — child, sign of the rat3All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
公都子ことこ公 — public, prince · 都 — capital, metropolis · 子 — child, sign of the rat18All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
功子ことこ功 — achievement, merits · 子 — child, sign of the rat8All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
古都子ことこ古 — old · 都 — capital, metropolis · 子 — child, sign of the rat19All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
宜子ことこ宜 — best regards, good · 子 — child, sign of the rat11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
寿子ことこ寿 — longevity, congratulations · 子 — child, sign of the rat10All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
小都子ことこ小 — little, small · 都 — capital, metropolis · 子 — child, sign of the rat17All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
幹子ことこ幹 — tree trunk, main part · 子 — child, sign of the rat16All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
承子ことこ承 — acquiesce, hear · 子 — child, sign of the rat11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
来冬子ことこ来 — come, due · 冬 — winter · 子 — child, sign of the rat15All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
琴好ことこ琴 — harp, koto · 好 — fond, pleasing18All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
琴子ことこ琴 — harp, koto · 子 — child, sign of the rat15All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
琴心ことこ琴 — harp, koto · 心 — heart, mind16All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
琴湖ことこ琴 — harp, koto · 湖 — lake24All 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 Kotoko 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 こと

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 Kotoko

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.

Continue research

Where to go next from Kotoko

Use literal reading, character and corpus relationships to continue without treating nearby records as automatically related.

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 →