円 is a Japanese given name with 9 readings recorded in JMnedict, including En (えん), Tsubura (つぶら) and Nodoka (のどか); 7 are classified as feminine and 2 as unspecified for sex. Its character means “circle” (KANJIDIC2).
3 source accounts
Late Middle Chinese origin
Source-reported
Meaning: “circle”
/wen/ → /eɴ/ From Middle Chinese 圓 (MC hjwen), with the original sense of "circle, roundness". The yen sense came much later in the Meiji period, from Chinese 圓 /圆 (yuán), itself from 銀圓 /银圆 (yínyuán, “round silver object(s), especially a piece of eight”). Compare Chinese 元 (yuán, “yuan”) and Korean 원 (won, “Korean won”). Doublet of 元 (gen, “yuan (Chinese currency)”), ユアン (yuan, “yuan (Chinese currency)”), and ウォン (won, “won (Korean currency)”). The yen became the official currency of Japan in 1871, succeeding the 両(りょう) (ryō) and the 文(もん) (mon).
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04 / Through time
History
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05 / A family of names
Related names
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NameStoria passport円Late Middle Chinese
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Sources for this page
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
Name origins & languageDictionaries, name records and related forms5
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