group-level written forms
Canonical reference record
JMnedict-backedKANJIDIC2 character context
Reference coverageDistinct recorded spellings15 Source spelling/reading rows15 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 Ogawa
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: Ogawa. 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 Ogawa 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 “Ogawa”, this page explains each recorded spelling separately.
character meanings available
no kanji meaning attached
based on the exact written form
Kanji spelling
十川
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
及川
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
小側
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
小川
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
小河
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
尾川
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
尾河
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
押川
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
於川
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
梶川
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
緒川
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
緒河
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 15. 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 Ogawa 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.
おがわ
among the forms analyzed on this page
in the primary dictionary reading
small ゃ/ゅ/ょ-type kana combine with the preceding mora
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.
おがわ in the imported JMnedict corpus
0 source spelling/reading rows
0 source spelling/reading rows
row counts carrying each JMnedict source label
| Exact reading | Given-name evidence | Given-name labels | Surname evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| おかわOkawa | 00 source rows | —source rows · distinct forms: — | 1926 source rows |
| おがわOgawa | 00 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 Ogawa
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.
5–22 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| おがわ | Ogawa | 3 | 15 |
Reading ambiguity
Can the same writing be read another way?
13 of 15 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.
distinct spellings displayed on this page
exact written forms with 2+ source readings
within this active surname corpus
distinct kana readings for one displayed writing
及川
12 source-recorded readings
十川
小河
小川
押川
5 source-recorded readings
Ogawaおがわ · this pageOshigawaおしがわOshikawaおしかわOshitokawaおしとかわOsekawaおせかわ
梶川
5 source-recorded readings
尾川
4 source-recorded readings
老川
4 source-recorded readings
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 Ogawa 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 川 | stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47) | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | か, こ, さわ | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1 |
| 小 | little, small | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | いさら, こう, さざ, しゃお +1 | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1 |
| 河 | river | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | かっ, こ, こう | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5 |
| 尾 | tail, end, counter for fish | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 緒 | thong, beginning, inception | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | ほ | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 十 | ten | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | い, か, ぎ, さ +8 | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1 |
| 及 | reach out, exert, exercise | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | おい, の | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 側 | side, lean, oppose | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | — | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4 |
| 押 | push, stop, check | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | おし, おす, おや | Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8 |
| 於 | at, in, on | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | — | Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9 |
| 梶 | sculling oar | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | — | Jinmeiyō · KANJIDIC grade 9 |
| 老 | old man, old age, grow old | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | えび, おい, び | 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.
Exact written form
十川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Other public forms containing the same contiguous sequence
The exact sequence 十川 appears contiguously inside these other source-recorded forms.
Exact written form
及川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Exact written form
小側
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Ogawaおがわ · this page
Characters in order
Exact written form
小川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Exact written form
小河
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Exact written form
尾川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Exact written form
尾河
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Ogawaおがわ · this pageOkawaおかわ
Characters in order
Exact written form
押川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Ogawaおがわ · this pageOshigawaおしがわOshikawaおしかわOshitokawaおしとかわOsekawaおせかわ
Characters in order
Exact written form
於川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Ogawaおがわ · this pageOkawaおかわ
Characters in order
Exact written form
梶川
Source-recorded full-name readings in this name class
Characters in order
Showing research maps for the first 10 distinct written forms out of 15. Every detailed spelling card below still links to exact-writing search and its component kanji.
Corpus pattern
Kanji recurring across Ogawa 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 Ogawa
15 source-recorded forms use the primary source reading おがわ. 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.
十川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
及川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
小側
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
小川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
小河
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
尾川
おがわ · Ogawa
尾tail, end, counter for fish, lower slope of mountain川stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
尾河
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
押川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
於川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
梶川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
緒川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
緒河
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
老川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded readings
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
苧川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkContains at least one kanji outside the loaded jōyō/jinmeiyō classification
雄川
おがわ · Ogawa
Character-set checkAll kanji are classified as jōyō/jinmeiyō in KANJIDIC2
Same writing, other recorded reading
Exact written-form relationship inside the imported surname corpus.
Spelling comparator
Compare Ogawa 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 十川 | おがわ | 十 — ten · 川 — stream, river | 5 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 及川 | おがわ | 及 — reach out, exert · 川 — stream, river | 6 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 小側 | おがわ | 小 — little, small · 側 — side, lean | 14 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 小川 | おがわ | 小 — little, small · 川 — stream, river | 6 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 小河 | おがわ | 小 — little, small · 河 — river | 11 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 尾川 | おがわ | 尾 — tail, end · 川 — stream, river | 10 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 尾河 | おがわ | 尾 — tail, end · 河 — river | 15 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 押川 | おがわ | 押 — push, stop · 川 — stream, river | 11 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 於川 | おがわ | 於 — at, in · 川 — stream, river | 11 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 梶川 | おがわ | 梶 — sculling oar · 川 — stream, river | 14 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 緒川 | おがわ | 緒 — thong, beginning · 川 — stream, river | 17 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 緒河 | おがわ | 緒 — thong, beginning · 河 — river | 22 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 老川 | おがわ | 老 — old man, old age · 川 — stream, river | 9 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
| 苧川 | おがわ | 苧 — hemp, flax · 川 — stream, river | 11 | Includes unclassified/outside loaded jōyō-jinmeiyō class |
| 雄川 | おがわ | 雄 — masculine, male · 川 — stream, river | 15 | All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified |
What does Ogawa 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 おが
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.
Surname · limited reference
Ogata
30 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOka
13 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkata
11 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkawa
11 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkabe
10 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOga
9 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkazaki
9 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOgaya
8 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkada
8 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkamoto
8 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOgami
7 recorded spellings
Explore →Surname · limited referenceOkaji
7 recorded spellings
Explore →Shared-kanji relationships
Other surnames sharing kanji with Ogawa
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.
Surname relationship
Okawa
側小尾川於河緒
7 shared kanji · 9 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOgata
小尾押於緒
5 shared kanji · 21 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOikawa
及小尾川河
5 shared kanji · 13 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOzawa
十小尾川緒
5 shared kanji · 8 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOda
小尾押於緒
5 shared kanji · 6 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipTogawa
側十川河
4 shared kanji · 22 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipMorikawa
側及川河
4 shared kanji · 9 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOmoto
小尾於緒
4 shared kanji · 7 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOgahara
小尾川河
4 shared kanji · 6 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOgo
小尾於河
4 shared kanji · 4 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipOkohira
小尾川河
4 shared kanji · 3 matching source-recorded spellings
Inspect name →Surname relationshipObata
小尾緒
3 shared kanji · 14 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 →