Shoji: Name Meaning, Origin & Popularity

At a Glance: Name: Shoji – Meaning: bright, second son – Origin: Japanese – Gender: Boy – Pronunciation: SHOH-jee


Shoji is a Japanese boy's name meaning “bright, second son”. It appears in our list of 175+ Japanese Baby Boy Names That Are Strong and Serene.

Meaning & Origin of Shoji

Meaning: Bright, second son.

Origin: Japanese.

A common claim: Shoji is also the everyday word for a traditional Japanese paper sliding door/screen (障子). Actually: That's an unrelated homophone; as a given name Shoji is typically written with different kanji (e.g. 昭二) or used as a surname (庄司), with no connection to the sliding-door word.

Source: Wiktionary.

How to Pronounce Shoji

Phonetic: SHOH-jee   IPA: /ˈʃoʊdʒi/

Popularity of Shoji

Shoji doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security birth records, which include every name given to at least five babies in a year — so it’s rare in the U.S.

Lists That Include Shoji

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Tomoaki · Ryouichi · Yukio · Masahiro · Wataru · Kazuo

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