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

Ī

井伊

Surname-classified records in JMnedict.

いいイイĪ
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 spellings11

group-level written forms

Source spelling/reading rows11

records contributing to this reading group

Coverage levelExtended

based only on the imported source footprint

Pronunciation & romanization

How to read Ī

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いい

Normalized to hiragana for comparison.

Katakana formイイ

The same reading converted to katakana.

RomanizationĪ

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

Mora segmentationい · い

2 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 Ī 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 “Ī”, this page explains each recorded spelling separately.

Kanji spellings11

character meanings available

Kana-only spellings0

no kanji meaning attached

InterpretationBy spelling

based on the exact written form

Kanji spelling

井伊

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

井居

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

伊井

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

依斐

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

尹

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

猪井

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

生井

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

衣斐

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

飯

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

飯井

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

飯居

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

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 Ī 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 readings1

いい

Kanji-based spellings11

among the forms analyzed on this page

Kana characters2

in the primary dictionary reading

Morae2

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

1-kanji forms2

recorded spellings

2-kanji forms9

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 asSurname

いい in the imported JMnedict corpus

Given-name written forms0

0 source spelling/reading rows

Surname written forms11

11 source spelling/reading rows

Given-name labels—

row counts carrying each JMnedict source label

Exact readingGiven-name evidenceGiven-name labelsSurname evidence
いいĪ00 source rows—source rows · distinct forms: —1111 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 Ī

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 data11

4–20 strokes observed span

Median total strokes12

among forms with complete KANJIDIC2 stroke data

All-kanji name-classified forms10

all component kanji loaded as jōyō/jinmeiyō classes

Other/unclassified kanji forms1

contains at least one character outside that loaded classification

Reading ambiguity

Can the same writing be read another way?

9 of 11 displayed written forms have more than one surname 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 checked11

distinct spellings displayed on this page

Multiple recorded readings9

exact written forms with 2+ source readings

Single recorded reading2

within this active surname corpus

Largest reading set11

distinct kana readings for one displayed writing

飯
4 source-recorded readings
Īいい · this pageĪzakiいいざきĪtakaいいたかMeshiめし
飯井
3 source-recorded readings
Īいい · this pageĪiいいいMeshīめしい
飯居
3 source-recorded readings
Īいい · this pageĪiいいいMeshīめしい
井伊
2 source-recorded readings
Īいい · this pageInoiいのい

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 Ī 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
井well, well crib, town624004いの, さい, ひJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
飯meal, boiled rice3200112い, いい, いり, えJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
伊Italy, that one211006これ, ただ, よし, いと +1Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9
居reside, to be, exist202008おき, ぐ, すえJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5
斐beautiful, patterned2020012あやJinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9
依reliant, depend on, consequently110008よ, よりJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
尹an official rank100014ちかUnclassified in the loaded KANJIDIC grade field
猪pig1100013—Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9
生life, genuine, birth110005あさ, いき, いく, いけ +21Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1
衣garment, clothes, dressing110006—Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4

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.

Showing research maps for the first 10 distinct written forms out of 11. Every detailed spelling card below still links to exact-writing search and its component kanji.

Corpus pattern

Kanji recurring across Ī 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 Ī

11 source-recorded forms use the primary source reading いい. 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.

Spelling comparator

Compare Ī 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
井伊いい井 — well, well crib · 伊 — Italy, that one10All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
井居いい井 — well, well crib · 居 — reside, to be12All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
伊井いい伊 — Italy, that one · 井 — well, well crib10All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
依斐いい依 — reliant, depend on · 斐 — beautiful, patterned20All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
尹いい尹 — an official rank4Includes unclassified/outside loaded jōyō-jinmeiyō class
猪井いい猪 — pig · 井 — well, well crib17All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
生井いい生 — life, genuine · 井 — well, well crib9All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
衣斐いい衣 — garment, clothes · 斐 — beautiful, patterned18All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
飯いい飯 — meal, boiled rice12All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
飯井いい飯 — meal, boiled rice · 井 — well, well crib16All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
飯居いい飯 — meal, boiled rice · 居 — reside, to be20All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified

What does Ī 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 surnames beginning with いい

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 surnames sharing kanji with Ī

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 Ī

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 →