Japanese Ship Name Generator
Authentic Japanese names for warships, liners and fishing boats
Generate Japanese ship names that follow real naval and merchant conventions: battleships named for provinces, cruisers for mountains and rivers, destroyers for wind, snow and moonlight, and merchant vessels ending in Maru. Ideal for naval fiction, wargames, anime-style settings and model builds.
About Japanese ship names
Japanese ship names follow some of the most systematic naming rules of any navy, so they are easy to get right once you know the pattern. The Imperial Japanese Navy named battleships after old provinces (Yamato, Nagato, Mutsu, Ise), heavy cruisers after mountains (Myōkō, Takao, Atago, Chōkai), light cruisers after rivers (Nagara, Abukuma, Yahagi) and aircraft carriers after flying creatures or auspicious words (Sōryū, Zuikaku, Taihō). Destroyers took poetic names for weather, sea and sky: Fubuki is a blizzard, Yukikaze a snowy wind, Akizuki the autumn moon, Shiranui the phosphorescent sea fire. Submarines were simply numbered I-19 or Ro-33.
The modern Maritime Self-Defense Force kept most of these conventions, so Izumo, Kongō, Murasame and Sōryū have all sailed twice. Civilian ships follow a different rule: almost every merchant, fishing and training vessel carries the suffix Maru, an affectionate word that became standard for ships (Nippon Maru, Hikawa Maru, Daigo Fukuryū Maru). Fishing boats often add lucky words or the Seven Lucky Gods, as in Tairyō Maru or Ebisu Maru, and numbered fleets use Daiichi, Daini and so on.
To name your own ship, decide what it is first. A province or mountain name signals a capital ship, a wind or moon word signals a destroyer, and a Maru name signals a working vessel.
How to choose Japanese ship names
- Match the name type to the ship type: provinces for battleships, mountains for heavy cruisers, rivers for light cruisers, weather and moon words for destroyers, and Maru for civilian ships.
- Keep warship names as single words without a prefix; add IJN, JS or JDS only if your setting needs a hull prefix the way real navies use HMS or USS.
- Use Maru for anything that earns a living at sea: freighters, trawlers, ferries and training ships. Put a lucky word, a place or a family name in front of it.
- For a sister-ship class, pick names that share a theme rather than a suffix: Akizuki, Teruzuki and Suzutsuki are all moons, and Kagerō, Shiranui and Yukikaze are all light and weather.
- Write long vowels consistently, either with macrons (Sōryū, Kongō) or doubled letters (Souryuu), so the names look like they come from the same register.
Frequently asked questions
Why do so many Japanese ship names end in Maru?
Maru is a traditional suffix for civilian vessels in Japan, used on merchant ships, fishing boats and training ships for centuries. Its origin is debated, but it was once an affectionate ending for cherished things, and a 1900 law made it the standard suffix for registered merchant ships. Warships never use it.
How were Imperial Japanese Navy ships named?
By ship type. Battleships were named for provinces (Yamato, Mutsu), heavy cruisers for mountains (Takao, Atago), light cruisers for rivers (Sendai, Agano), carriers for dragons, birds and auspicious words (Hiryū, Shōkaku), and destroyers for wind, rain, snow, waves, clouds and moons (Yukikaze, Shigure, Fubuki, Akizuki).
Does the modern Japanese navy use the same names?
Largely yes. The JMSDF reuses historic names written in hiragana, so today there are ships named Izumo, Kaga, Kongō, Kirishima, Murasame and a submarine class named Sōryū. Newer classes also use mountains, rivers and weather words.
Can I use these names for a novel or game?
Yes. Place names, weather words and the Maru convention are common property. If you want a ship that feels original rather than historical, pair a less famous mountain, river or weather word with the right ship type, or invent a Maru name from a lucky word or home port.
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All 500 Japanese ship names
A: 45 names
- Abukuma
- Adatara
- Agano
- Akagi
- Akaishi
- Akashi
- Akatsuki
- Akatsuki Maru
- Akebono
- Aki
- Aki Maru
- Akigumo
- Akikaze
- Akitsushima
- Akizuki
- Amagi
- Amagiri
- Amatsukaze
- Aoba
- Aoshima Maru
- Arakawa
- Aranami
- Arare
- Arashi
- Arashio
- Argentina Maru
- Ariake
- Asagiri
- Asagumo
- Asahi
- Asahi Maru
- Asahidake
- Asakaze
- Asama
- Asama Maru
- Asanagi
- Asashimo
- Asashio
- Ashigara
- Aso
- Atago
- Awa Maru
- Awaji
- Ayanami
- Azuma
B: 6 names
- Bandai
- Benten Maru
- Bishamon Maru
- Bizen
- Brasil Maru
- Bungo
C: 11 names
- Chichibu Maru
- Chidori Maru
- Chihaya
- Chikugo
- Chikuma
- Chikuzen
- Chitose
- Chiyo Maru
- Chiyoda
- Chōkai
- Chūyō
D: 8 names
- Dai-Hachi Myōjin Maru
- Daigo Fukuryū Maru
- Daiichi Tenyū Maru
- Daikichi Maru
- Daikoku Maru
- Daini Kōun Maru
- Daisen
- Dewa
E: 5 names
- Ebisu Maru
- Echigo
- Edogawa
- Eikō Maru
- Enoshima Maru
F: 12 names
- Fubuki
- Fuji
- Fuji Maru
- Fujinami
- Fukuei Maru
- Fukurokuju Maru
- Fumizuki
- Furutaka
- Fushimi Maru
- Fusō
- Fuyukaze
- Fuyutsuki
G: 3 names
- Gassan
- Ginga Maru
- Ginryū
H: 63 names
- Hachiman Maru
- Hagi
- Hagikaze
- Haguro
- Hakata Maru
- Hakkōda
- Hakone
- Hakone Maru
- Hakuhō
- Hakuhō Maru
- Hakuryū
- Hakusan
- Hakusan Maru
- Hamagiri
- Hamakaze
- Hamanami
- Hamayuki
- Hanazuki
- Harima
- Harukaze
- Haruna
- Harusame
- Haruyuki
- Hashidate
- Hatsuharu
- Hatsuhi Maru
- Hatsukaze
- Hatsuse
- Hatsushimo
- Hatsushio
- Hatsuyuki
H, continued
- Hatsuzakura
- Hatsuzuki
- Hayachine
- Hayashio
- Hayate
- Heian Maru
- Heiwa Maru
- Hibari Maru
- Hibiki
- Hiei
- Higo
- Higure
- Hikawa Maru
- Hinode Maru
- Hinoki
- Hiryū
- Hitachi
- Hiuchi
- Hiyō
- Hizen
- Hōjun Maru
- Hokkai Maru
- Hokushin Maru
- Hokuto Maru
- Hokuyō Maru
- Hōō Maru
- Hōryū Maru
- Hoshikage
- Hōshō
- Hotaka
- Hotei Maru
- Hyūga
I: 20 names
- Ibuki
- Ikazuchi
- Ikoma
- Inari Maru
- Inazuma
- Ise
- Ishikari
- Ishizuchi
- Isokaze
- Isonami
- Isuzu
- Itsukushima
- Iwaki
- Iwami
- Iwate
- Iyo
- Iyo Maru
- Izu Maru
- Izumo
- Izumo Maru
J: 4 names
- Jinryū
- Jintsū
- Jun'yō
- Jurōjin Maru
K: 74 names
- Kaede
- Kaga
- Kagerō
- Kaikō Maru
- Kaimon
- Kaiō Maru
- Kaisei Maru
- Kaiun Maru
- Kaiwo Maru
- Kaiyō
- Kaiyō Maru
- Kaki
- Kako
- Kamakura Maru
- Kamo
- Kamome Maru
- Kankō Maru
- Kannon Maru
- Kanrin Maru
- Kasagi
- Kashima
- Kashima Maru
- Kasuga
- Kasumi
- Katori
- Katori Maru
- Katsura
- Katsuragi
- Kawachi
- Kawakaze
- Kazagumo
- Keifū Maru
- Kenryū
- Keyaki
- Kibō Maru
- Kii
- Kikuzuki
K, continued
- Kinkasan Maru
- Kinryū
- Kinryū Maru
- Kinsei Maru
- Kinu
- Kinugasa
- Kirisame
- Kirishima
- Kisaragi
- Kiso
- Kitakami
- Kiyonami
- Kizu
- Kōfuku Maru
- Kokuryū
- Komagatake
- Kongō
- Konpira Maru
- Kōryū
- Kōshin Maru
- Kotobuki Maru
- Kōun Maru
- Kōya
- Kōyō Maru
- Kujū
- Kuma
- Kumano
- Kumotaka
- Kurama
- Kurikoma
- Kurobe
- Kuroshima Maru
- Kuroshio
- Kusunoki
- Kuzuryū
- Kyokusei Maru
- Kyokuyō Maru
M: 34 names
- Maikaze
- Maki
- Makigumo
- Makinami
- Manpuku Maru
- Manryō Maru
- Matsu
- Matsukaze
- Matsushima
- Matsuyuki
- Maya
- Meiji Maru
- Michishio
- Mikasa
- Mikawa
- Mikazuki
- Mikuma
- Minato Maru
- Minazuki
- Minegumo
- Mirai Maru
- Miyajima Maru
- Mochizuki
- Mogami
- Momo
- Murakumo
- Murasame
- Musashi
- Mutsu
- Mutsuki
- Myōgi
- Myōjō Maru
- Myōken Maru
- Myōkō
N: 30 names
- Nachi
- Naganami
- Nagara
- Nagasaki Maru
- Nagato
- Nagatsuki
- Naka
- Naniwa
- Nankai Maru
- Nantai
- Nanto Maru
- Nanyō Maru
- Nasu
- Natori
- Natsugumo
- Natsukaze
- Natsushio
- Natsuzuki
- Nenohi
- Niitaka
- Nippon Maru
- Nisshin
- Nisshin Maru
- Niyodo
- Norikura
- Noshiro
- Noto
- Noto Maru
- Nowaki
- Nozomi Maru
O: 18 names
- Oboro
- Ōi
- Oite
- Okinami
- Ōmi
- Ōmine
- Omono
- Ōnami
- Ontake
- Ōshima Maru
- Ōshio
- Oshoro Maru
- Ōsumi
- Ōtori
- Otowa
- Owari
- Oyashio
- Ōyodo
R: 6 names
- Raihō
- Rishiri
- Rokkō
- Ryōfū Maru
- Ryūhō
- Ryūjō
S: 63 names
- Sado
- Sagami
- Sagiri
- Sakawa
- Sakura
- Sakura Maru
- Sakurajima
- Samidare
- Sanuki
- Satsuki
- Satsuma
- Satsuma Maru
- Sazanami
- Seifū Maru
- Seikō Maru
- Seiryū
- Seisui Maru
- Seiun Maru
- Sendai
- Settsu
- Shichifuku Maru
- Shigure
- Shikinami
- Shikishima
- Shimakaze
- Shimanto
- Shimayuki
- Shimotsuki
- Shin'yō
- Shinano
- Shinano Maru
S, continued
- Shinkai Maru
- Shinonome
- Shinsei Maru
- Shintoku Maru
- Shinyō Maru
- Shiokaze
- Shiraishi Maru
- Shirakumo
- Shiranami
- Shirane
- Shiranui
- Shiratsuyu
- Shirayuki
- Shōchiku Maru
- Shōhei Maru
- Shōhō
- Shōkaku
- Shōkō Maru
- Shōnan Maru
- Shōryū Maru
- Sōryū
- Sugi
- Suisei Maru
- Suma
- Sumida
- Sumire
- Sumiyoshi Maru
- Suruga
- Suzukaze
- Suzunami
- Suzutsuki
- Suzuya
T: 43 names
- Taihō
- Taikō Maru
- Tairyō Maru
- Taisei Maru
- Taisetsu
- Taiyō
- Taiyō Maru
- Takachiho
- Takanami
- Takao
- Takara Maru
- Takarabune Maru
- Take
- Tama
- Tango
- Tanigawa
- Tanikaze
- Tasogare
- Tateyama
- Tatsuta
- Tatsuta Maru
- Tenjin Maru
- Tenkū Maru
- Tenryū
- Tenyō Maru
- Tenyū Maru
- Terukuni Maru
- Teruzuki
- Teshio
- Tokachi
- Tōkai Maru
- Tokitsukaze
- Tokiwa
- Tone
- Tosa
- Tosa Maru
- Tōyō Maru
- Tsubaki
- Tsubame Maru
- Tsukikage
- Tsukuba
- Tsurugi
- Tsushima
U: 14 names
- Uji
- Ume
- Umigiri
- Umikaze
- Umitaka Maru
- Un'yō
- Unryū
- Unyō Maru
- Unzen
- Urakaze
- Uranami
- Ushio
- Usugumo
- Uzuki
W: 8 names
- Wakaba
- Wakamatsu Maru
- Wakasa
- Wakasa Maru
- Wakashio Maru
- Wakatake Maru
- Wakatsuki
- Watarase
Y: 29 names
- Yaezakura
- Yahagi
- Yakumo
- Yamagiri
- Yamagumo
- Yamakaze
- Yamashiro
- Yamato
- Yanagi
- Yashima
- Yasukuni Maru
- Yatsugatake
- Yawata Maru
- Yayoi
- Yoake
- Yodo
- Yokohama Maru
- Yoshino
- Yōtei
- Yūbari
- Yūdachi
- Yūgiri
- Yūgumo
- Yūgure
- Yukikaze
- Yūnagi
- Yura
- Yūshin Maru
- Yūzuki