In Japanese folklore, the kitsune is a fox spirit that grows wiser and more powerful with age, gaining tails until it has nine. Some are tricksters, some are messengers of the rice god Inari. This kitsune name generator uses real Japanese words for names, like Tsuki (moon) and Kitsunebi (foxfire), with their meanings and a tail count.
The kitsune in Japanese folklore
Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox, and in folklore foxes are clever, magical and long-lived.
- Tails: a kitsune grows more tails as it grows older and wiser, and the oldest, at around a thousand years, have nine.
- Messengers of Inari: foxes are the messengers of Inari, the kami of rice and prosperity, which is why fox statues guard Inari shrines across Japan, among them Fushimi Inari in Kyoto.
- Kind and mischievous: some kitsune are faithful and good, others tricksters who take human shape to fool people.
- Foxfire, or kitsunebi, is the ghostly light kitsune are said to make at night.
Inari is still worshipped today, so the names here come from nature and the seasons rather than from religion.
Naming a kitsune
Every name is a real Japanese word, shown with its meaning.
- Nature names like Tsuki (moon), Kaze (wind) and Hotaru (firefly).
- Season names like Haru (spring) and Yuugure (dusk).
- Add tails to show how old and powerful it is, from One-Tailed to Nine-Tailed, or add a title like "Who Lights the Foxfire".
- Spelling: the names are in plain romaji, without the marks that show long vowels.
For more Japanese names, try the Japanese Sword Name Generator. For another creature of East Asian legend, there's the Chinese Dragon Name Generator.
For more gods and legends, see all the mythology name generators.
For the people in the story, try the Anime Character Name Generator, with the meanings of Japanese given names.