Keiko

Keiko arrives with a clean diphthong, the kei carrying associations of respect, blessing, or joy in the kanji most commonly chosen, followed by the feminine ko. The name was widely given to Japanese girls born in the mid-twentieth century, which places it today in the same gently retro register as Susan or Patricia in English. Japanese novelist Keiko Tobe and author Keiko Furukura, the fictional heroine of Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman, have both kept the name in international print. Two syllables, open at both ends. Courteous, poised, softly formal. A name with good manners and a dry wit.