Naruto character names and their meanings

Curious to know the names of the characters from Naruto? In this article, we will share the Japanese meaning of several names from Naruto and Boruto, and then a roster of a hundred characters.

You will notice that the names of the characters from Naruto refer to the powers or characteristics of the person in question. Sometimes it relates to hair color, clothing, or history and origin.

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What does Naruto Uzumaki mean?

The name of the protagonist of the anime has a very interesting meaning. Naruto is a slice of kamaboko called narutomaki, the fish cake with a pink spiral served on Japanese ramen. That spiral is there to resemble the whirlpools of the Naruto Strait, beside the city of Naruto in Tokushima.

Uzumaki [渦巻き] means spiral, whirlpool, vortex, and it is fitting for the Naruto ingredient, which also has a spiral shape as we can see in the image below.

He was named after Naruto Musasabi, the hero of the first book Jiraiya wrote, which is why Jiraiya is his godfather. The surname comes from his mother. Kushina belonged to the Uzumaki clan in the Land of Whirlpools. The word he puts at the end of a sentence, dattebayo, has its own note in Naruto's speech.

Meaning of Naruto Character Names

Meaning of Sakura's Name

The name Sakura Haruno refers to her pink hair. Sakura [さくら] means cherry blossom. The surname Haruno [春野] is a spring field: haru is spring and no is field. Said out loud, the full name plays on spring cherry blossoms, haru no sakura.

Meaning of Hinata Hyuga's Name

The name Hinata means "a sunny place," and the surname Hyuga is the same word, 日向, a spot facing the sun. Hinata's given name is written in katakana, while the surname keeps the kanji.

Most members of this clan have some reference to light or sun in their names. It is ironic since the family's internal conflicts are quite dark, creating a paradox.

Meaning of Kakashi's Name

The name Kakashi literally means scarecrow, while Hatake [畑] means a farm field. Kishimoto makes scarecrows appear in scenes where Kakashi participates, and on the cover of volume three. Naruto trains for a fight with him using a scarecrow dressed as his teacher.

Meaning of Ino Yamanaka's Name

The reason Sakura often calls Ino a pig is in her name. Ino comes from inoshishi, the wild boar, and it is the boar in the old card hand Ino-Shika-Cho: boar, deer and butterfly. Is that good or bad?

Her surname Yamanaka literally means "in the middle of the mountain," where naka [中] means middle and yama [山] means mountain.

Characters Inspired by the Tale of Jiraiya

Some characters from the anime Naruto are inspired by a traditional Japanese tale called "The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya," Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari [児雷也豪傑譚]. Jiraiya is written 児雷也, the child and the thunder. We have a major character of that name among the three legendary sannin.

Orochimaru is built on orochi, a giant snake. In the tale he is Jiraiya's disciple, the one who fights with snakes. Tsunade [綱手] is a mooring rope, and in the story she is Jiraiya's wife, taught slug magic by an old man whose body was a slug. The three sannin take those names, together with the frog, the snake and the slug.

The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya was published in Japan from 1839 to 1868 and comprises 43 parts.

Other Naruto character names with meanings

Below we will see some more names of Naruto characters with brief meanings.

• Might Guy is written マイト・ガイ, the English words mighty guy.
• Gaara is written 我愛羅. Yashamaru told him the name came from "a self-loving carnage" (我を愛する修羅), and presented that phrase as Karura's hatred. The speech was a lie ordered by the Fourth Kazekage. The character on Gaara's forehead is 愛, love.
• Shikamaru Nara takes shika, deer, from that same Ino-Shika-Cho hand. Nara is the clan, and maru is an ordinary ending for a boy's name.
• Kurenai means crimson, and her surname Yuhi is the evening sun.
• Tsunade is the mooring rope from the tale above.

Meanings of Boruto Names

Despite the similarity to Naruto, the name "Boruto" is the Japanese pronunciation of the English word bolt. It is worth remembering that Neji means screw.

The name Himawari means "sunflower." The word is written 向日葵, and the first two characters turned around are 日向, the same characters as Hinata and Hyuga. The name Sarada is the Japanese pronunciation of salad.

List of 100 Naruto Characters

The list below is a roster of a hundred names from Naruto and Boruto. For names from other series, there is also a list of anime character names.

• Naruto Uzumaki
• Madara Uchiha
• Gamakichi
• Pain
• Obito Uchiha
• Rock Lee
• Sakura Haruno
• Neji Hyuuga
• Deidara
• Orochimaru
• Sasori
• Might Guy
• Itachi Uchiha
• Tsunade
• Tobi
• Shisui Uchiha
• Hidan
• Boruto Uzumaki
• Temari
• Sarada Uchiha
• Kiba Inuzuka
• Kushina Uzumaki
• Konan
• Kakashi Hatake
• Sai
• Zabuza Momochi
• Mitsuki
• Haku
• Kisame Hoshigaki
• Kurama
• Hashirama Senju
• Killer Bee
• Tobirama Senju
• Tenten
• Sasuke Uchiha
• Ino Yamanaka
• Shino Aburame
• Kimimaro
• Kawaki
• Suigetsu Hoozuki
• Kakuzu
• Kabuto Yakushi
• Asuma Sarutobi
• Himawari Uzumaki
• Yamato
• Shikamaru Nara
• Iruka Umino
• Konohamaru Sarutobi
• Kankurou
• Akamaru
• Anko Mitarashi
• Rin Nohara
• Chouji Akimichi
• Yahiko
• Karin
• Mei Terumi
• Gaara
• Hanabi Hyuuga
• Teuchi
• Tayuya
• Kaguya Ootsutsuki
• Zetsu
• Hiruzen Sarutobi
• Mikoto Uchiha
• Darui
• Kurenai Yuuhi
• Danzou Shimura
• Hinata Hyuuga
• Utakata
• Pakkun
• Izuna Uchiha
• Shikadai Nara
• Sumire Kakei
• Guren
• Gamabunta
• Omoi
• Genma Shiranui
• Hayate Gekkou
• Jiraiya
• Shikaku Nara
• Hagoromo Ootsutsuki
• A (Yondaime Raikage)
• Gamatatsu
• Fuu
• Tonton
• Shizune
• Menma
• Chiyo
• Yagura
• Minato Namikaze
• Might Duy
• Genzou
• Indra Ootsutsuki
• Son Gokuu
• Chouchou Akimichi
• Yugito Nii
• Toneri Ootsutsuki
• Dosu Kinuta
• Inojin Yamanaka
• Juugo

The roster is there when you need to find the person. The sections above work through the Japanese word itself, from the fish cake in the ramen to the sunflower.