A good Japanese character name does three things: it fits when and where the character was born, it suits their gender and personality, and it looks real to a Japanese reader. Here is how to get all three.
1. Match the name to the birth year
Japanese names date quickly. Kazuko, Kiyoshi and Shigeru belong to people born before 1950; Daisuke, Shōta and Ai to the 1980s and 1990s; Haruto, Himari and Minato to the 2010s and 2020s. Every name page here shows when a name was popular, so check that your forty-year-old does not carry a toddler's name.
2. Choose the kanji on purpose
Readers who know Japanese will read meaning into the kanji. A gentle character might be 優 (gentle) or 和 (harmony); a fierce one 剛 (strong) or 武 (martial). Use the meaning pages to find kanji that fit, and keep to ones real parents use.
3. Pick an ordinary surname, unless you mean otherwise
Common surnames such as Satō, Suzuki or Takahashi make a character feel like an ordinary person. Rare or dramatic surnames signal something special, which is why manga heroes so often have them. Avoid inventing surnames with 死 (death) or 鬼 (demon) unless the character is meant to sound unreal.
4. Get the order and honorifics right
In Japanese, family name comes first. Classmates call each other by family name with -san or -kun, and switching to a given name is a sign of closeness. See Japanese honorifics.
5. Use the generator for ideas
The name generator builds full names only from real first names and common surnames, with modern, classic, anime and samurai styles.