Gender Feminine Usage Japanese Scripts 明里, 朱里, 朱莉, etc.(Japanese Kanji) あかり(Japanese Hiragana) Pronounced Pron. /ä.kä.ɾi/ Meaning & History From Japanese 明 (aka) meaning "bright" or 朱 (aka) meaning "vermilion red" combined with 里 (ri) meaning "village" or 莉 (ri) meaning "white jasmine". Other combinations of kanji characters can also form this name.