Aoi has been very common in Japan since the mid 1990s.It entered the top 10 for the first time in 1994. It was #1 in 2002, 2007, 2015 and 2016. It was at #7 in 2018.The most common spelling is 葵.
― Anonymous User 9/5/2019
7
A new character called Aoi Ryugoku was added to the Yandere Simulator game. Her animal motif is the dragon.
Aoi Nakamura is a Japanese photomodel and actor. He belongs to the talent agency LesPros Entertainment. Nakamura Aoi entered the entertainment industry when he won the Grand Prix at the final round of the 18th Junon Superboy Contest held in November 2005. He was in his third year at junior high school and only 14 at the time, making him the first ever junior high school student Grand Prix winner.
Aoi Rokusho is a character that appears in the anime Naruto.
― Anonymous User 8/6/2015
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With regards to my previous comment, Aoi was the most popular girl name last year based on both the kanji/kana & sound combination and kanji/kana. In terms of sound, however, Haruka was the most popular last year.
Aoi, using the kanji 葵, is 2014's most popular girl name in Japan while the one using 碧 is in 113th place. Other kanji used for Aoi for girls include (in order), 蒼 (247th), 葵衣 (332nd), 碧衣 (530th), 蒼依 (533rd), 蒼衣 (590th), 葵依 (870th) and 碧依 (895th). Aoi, using the phonetic characters (あおい) is in 83rd place for girls.Aoi for boys, meanwhile is popular as well with 葵 (48th) being the most popular. Other kanji used include 碧 (164th), 蒼 (197th), 蒼生 (296th) and 碧生 (655th).Aoi, for both genders, have risen in popularity for some time, more rapidly on boys where the name with the most popular kanji was in 907th place in 1989.Popularity sources: http://5go.biz/sei/cgi/ninki2.htm, http://5go.biz/sei/cgi/ninki1.htm, http://www.namaejiten.com/h01/girl01.html & http://www.namaejiten.com/h01/boy01.html.
It's kinda popular among girls right now, but I've never encountered a boy with the name (I live in Japan). It's a very feminine sounding name to me as someone who actually has been living in Japan a while and speaks the language. Though with parents doing all sorts of weird things with names and kanji and such these days (which rather frustrates school-teachers even if they're native speakers), you never know what parents will do with their children's names.