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

Sei

勢

Surname-classified records in JMnedict.

せいセイSei
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 spellings16

group-level written forms

Source spelling/reading rows16

records contributing to this reading group

Coverage levelExtended

based only on the imported source footprint

Pronunciation & romanization

How to read Sei

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せい

Normalized to hiragana for comparison.

Katakana formセイ

The same reading converted to katakana.

RomanizationSei

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

Mora segmentationせ · 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 Sei 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 “Sei”, this page explains each recorded spelling separately.

Kanji spellings12

character meanings available

Kana-only spellings0

no kanji meaning attached

InterpretationBy spelling

based on the exact written form

Kanji spelling

勢

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

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

情

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

成

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

斉

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

斎

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

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

清

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

瀬井

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

生

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

盛

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

精

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 16. 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 Sei 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

せい

Kanji-based spellings16

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 forms15

recorded spellings

2-kanji forms1

recorded spelling

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 + surname

せい in the imported JMnedict corpus

Given-name written forms39

39 source spelling/reading rows

Surname written forms16

16 source spelling/reading rows

Given-name labelsfemale 23 · unspecified 16

row counts carrying each JMnedict source label

Exact readingGiven-name evidenceGiven-name labelsSurname evidence
せいSei3939 source rowsfemale 23 · unspecified 16source rows · distinct forms: female 23 · unspecified 161616 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 Sei

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 data16

4–23 strokes observed span

Median total strokes11

among forms with complete KANJIDIC2 stroke data

All-kanji name-classified forms15

all component kanji loaded as jōyō/jinmeiyō classes

Other/unclassified kanji forms1

contains at least one character outside that loaded classification

Source-reading distribution
ReadingRomanizationMoraeForms
せいSei216
Reading ambiguity

Can the same writing be read another way?

13 of 16 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 checked16

distinct spellings displayed on this page

Multiple recorded readings13

exact written forms with 2+ source readings

Single recorded reading3

within this active surname corpus

Largest reading set12

distinct kana readings for one displayed writing

生
4 source-recorded readings
IkusakiいくさきSakibuさきぶSeiせい · this pageYanaoやなお

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 Sei 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
勢forces, energy, military strength1000113せJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5
尹an official rank100014ちかUnclassified in the loaded KANJIDIC grade field
情feelings, emotion, passion1000111—Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 5
成turn into, become, get100016あき, あきら, しげ, そん +9Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
斉adjusted, alike, equal100018ただ, なり, ひと, ひとしJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
斎purification, Buddhist food, room1000111いつき, さえ, ひとし, いつ +3Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
星star, spot, dot100019—Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 2
清pure, purify, cleanse1000111あき, さや, し, すが +3Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
瀬rapids, current, torrent1100019いわた, がせ, しげ, せい +1Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 8
井well, well crib, town101004いの, さい, ひJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 4
生life, genuine, birth100015あさ, いき, いく, いけ +21Jōyō · KANJIDIC grade 1
盛boom, prosper, copulate1000111もりJōyō · KANJIDIC grade 6

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 16. Every detailed spelling card below still links to exact-writing search and its component kanji.

Same reading, different writing

Explore written forms of Sei

16 source-recorded forms use the primary source reading せい. 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 Sei 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
勢せい勢 — forces, energy13All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
尹せい尹 — an official rank4Includes unclassified/outside loaded jōyō-jinmeiyō class
情せい情 — feelings, emotion11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
成せい成 — turn into, become6All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
斉せい斉 — adjusted, alike8All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
斎せい斎 — purification, Buddhist food11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
星せい星 — star, spot9All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
清せい清 — pure, purify11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
瀬井せい瀬 — rapids, current · 井 — well, well crib23All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
生せい生 — life, genuine5All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
盛せい盛 — boom, prosper11All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
精せい精 — refined, ghost14All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
聖せい聖 — holy, saint13All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
茜せい茜 — madder, red dye9All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
青せい青 — blue, green8All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified
靖せい靖 — peaceful13All kanji jōyō/jinmeiyō-classified

What does Sei 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 せい

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 Sei

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 Sei

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 →