KUGA Inc. launches Kanji My Name,
a free kanji name art generator reviewed by a Japanese-language teacher
KUGA Inc. (Nagoya, Japan; CEO Hitomi Kuga) today launched Kanji My Name, a free web service that turns a name written in Latin letters into meaningful Japanese kanji and renders it as calligraphy-style art. It is made in Japan for people everywhere, works in any modern browser, and needs no account.
Try it: kanji.kugainc.com
Not a translation. An art form called ateji.
Type a name such as Emily, Liam or Sofia. Kanji My Name matches each sound to kanji candidates, and you choose the meaning behind every character: love, dream, light, strength, jasmine. The result is your own kanji name, drawn in a brush style of your choice and downloadable as a PNG.
This is ateji (当て字), the long-standing Japanese practice of writing a foreign word or name with kanji chosen for their sound. Foreign names are usually written in katakana in everyday Japanese, and the service says so plainly. Kanji My Name is about enjoying the richness of kanji meanings as art, the way people in Japan have played with characters for centuries.
Every kanji reviewed by a Japanese-language teacher
The dictionary behind the service was built by hand by a native Japanese speaker and Japanese-language teacher with doctoral coursework in linguistics. It covers 500 names, giving more than 28,750 possible kanji spellings, and every character was selected so that the first choice for any sound carries a positive meaning.
In their everyday Japanese usage, none of the characters in the dictionary carry a negative or awkward meaning. That makes Kanji My Name something children can safely enjoy on their own, choosing the kanji that feel right for their name, and something adults can trust for a gift, a card, a classroom activity or a keepsake.
Free, no sign-up, and your name never leaves your browser
Kanji My Name runs entirely inside the browser. The name you type is never sent to a server, and there is no registration, no email address and no tracking of what you create. The free version includes 3 brush styles, 3 art styles, vertical or horizontal layout, and PNG download, with no time limit.
Premium: one payment, yours to keep
For a finished piece you can print or frame, Premium is a one-time purchase of $4.99. It unlocks all 13 brush styles and all 8 art styles, 4K resolution, transparent-background PNG, and downloads without the credit line. There is no subscription: pay once and the unlock code stays valid. Payment is handled by Stripe, and the code arrives by email immediately after purchase. Like the free version, Premium requires no account.
What's next
KUGA Inc. will keep expanding the name dictionary and brush styles, and is planning a sister service for enjoying names in hiragana and katakana.
About KUGA Inc.
KUGA Inc. is a small web company based in Nagoya, Japan, that plans, builds and runs its own web services and designs websites for clients. Its services include NETDELINK, a multilingual landing-page generator for immigration lawyers; Dance Map Japan, a nationwide directory of dance studios; and Usamimi Web Design, a website production service. Being small lets the team move fast without cutting corners.
Company: KUGA Inc.（くうが株式会社）／CEO: Hitomi Kuga／Address: Dai-2 Mori Bldg. 401, 4-24-5 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 450-0002, Japan／Web: kugainc.com/en
