Meaning & History
Means "crimson" in Japanese, originally deriving as a contraction of 呉の藍 (kure no ai), made up of 呉 (kure), referring originally to the ancient Chinese state of Wu and later China as a whole, the possessive particle の (no) and 藍 (ai) meaning "indigo." The safflower plant (or 紅花/benibana in Japanese), from which the kurenai colour dye was extracted, was brought over from China to Japan.This name is rarely given to girls, if given at all.