Kaoru is a Japanese

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

for males or females.

Name Meanings

The name's meaning varies depending on its written form: *薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance", common for both males and females *馨/香 — "fragrance", more common for females *かおる —　purely phonetic form in

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

; no inherent meaning *かをる — same as above, using を as an archaic substitute for お *カオル — phonetic form in

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

As a distinctly unisex name, its usage in popular culture has risen in recent years to give the named character an air of androgyny. Such characters commonly have overt androgynous qualities as well. A similar name, in terms of both pronunciation and meaning, is

Kaori Kaori ( "scent/aroma, fabric/weave" and occasionally rendered "perfume", ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Kaori (voice actress) (born 1976), Japanese voice actress and singer *, musician known as Bonn ...

. It is used exclusively for females.

People

Kaoru Kaoru is a Japanese given name for males or females. Name Meanings The name's meaning varies depending on its written form: *薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance", common for both males and females *馨/香 — "fragrance", more common for females ...

薫 (m) (one of the guitarists of

Dir En Grey Dir En Grey (stylized as DIR EN GREY and previously as Dir en grey) is a Japanese heavy metal band formed in February 1997 and currently signed to Firewall Div., a sub-division of Free-Will. With a consistent lineup of guitarists Kaoru and Die, ...

) *

Kaoru Abe (May 5, 1949 – September 9, 1978) was a Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist. Self-taught at a young age, Abe performed with notables such as Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves, although ...

阿部薫 (m) (free Jazz saxophonist) *, Japanese film director, producer and editor *

Kaoru Fujino is a Japanese voice actress who was born in Kōchi and raised in Tokyo. One of her lesser known roles is that of the heroine Cornett Espoire in the Nippon Ichi Software game '' The Puppet Princess of Marl Kingdom''. She voice acted both Rockman ...

かほる (voice actor) *, Japanese speed skater * Kaoru Hasuike 薫 (m) (academic, writer, translator, and Japanese national once abducted by North Korea) * Kaoru Ide, Japanese architect *

Kaoru Ikeya is a Japanese amateur astronomer who discovered a number of comets. As a young adult, Ikeya lived near Lake Hamana and worked for a piano factory. During his employment there, he made his first discovery in 1963 with an optical telescope he bu ...

薫 (m) (astronomer) *

Kaoru Inoue Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen (''Genrō'') in Ja ...

馨 (m) (statesman) *

Kaoru Ishibashi Kaoru Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of t ...

(m) (musician,

Kishi Bashi Kaoru Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of t ...

) *

Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese organizational theorist and a professor in the engineering faculty at the University of Tokyo noted for his quality management innovations. He is considered a key figure in the development of quality initiatives in Japan, particul ...

(m) (business theorist, developer of the

Ishikawa diagram Ishikawa diagrams (also called fishbone diagrams, herringbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams) are causal diagrams created by Kaoru Ishikawa that show the potential causes of a specific event. Common uses of the Ishikawa diagram are product ...

) *, Japanese musician * Kaoru Kobayashi (m) (actor) *

Kaoru Maeda is a Japanese professional wrestler better known by the ring name KAORU (stylized in all capital letters). Billed as the "Original Hardcore Queen", Kaoru is known for her wrestling style, which combines high-flying with hardcore wrestling. Trai ...

薫 (f) (professional wrestler) *, Japanese sport shooter *

Kaoru Mitoma is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Japan national team. Club career Early years Born in Kanagawa, Mitoma grew up in the Kawasaki area and joined the Frontale aca ...

(m), Japanese footballer *

Kaoru Mori is a Japanese manga artist from Tokyo and the creator of the manga series ''Shirley'', '' Emma'', and ''A Bride's Story''. Many of her works are centered on female characters in the 19th century, such as a maid in Victorian Britain and a bride i ...

薫 (f) (manga author) *, Japanese lawyer and judge *, Japanese voice actress *

Kaoru Sugayama is a Japanese volleyball player. Although her nickname is "yuu", Ai Otomo already had that nickname on the All-Japan women's Team, so she was given the new nickname "kaoru". Her nickname in television broadcasts is "koushuni kagayaku Kaoru ...

かおる (f) (volleyball player) *, Japanese novelist and essayist *, Japanese footballer *

Kaoru Uno (born May 8, 1975) is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is the Co-Champion of the UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament and a former Shooto Lightweight Champion. As one of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship's el ...

薫 (m) (mixed martial artist) *

Kaoru Usui __NOTOC__ was a Japanese photographer known for photographing children and the life of Nagoya and environs. Usui was born in Nagoya on 12 December 1916; the actor Shigeru Amachi (born Noboru Usui) was a younger brother. He started photography arou ...

薫 (m) (photographer) * Kaoru Kimura (f) Japanese astronomy educator; President, International Planetarium Society 2021-22 *

Kaoru Wada is a Japanese composer and arranger. He has composed the scores for many anime series, including ''Inuyasha'', '' D.Gray-man'', '' Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas'', ''Samurai 7'' and, more recently, ''Tesla Note''. He also became known to the W ...

薫 (m) (composer) *, Japanese basketball player *

Kaoru Yosano (August 22, 1938 – May 23, 2017) was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Sunrise Party of Japan and former member of the House of Representatives, serving his ninth term in the Lower House represe ...

馨 (m) (politician)

Fictional characters

*Kaoru (f) - ''

Rilakkuma and Kaoru is a 2019 stop-motion animation series created by Dwarf Studio in cooperation with San-X that premiered on Netflix on April 19, 2019. In October 2020, it was announced another stop-motion series ''Rilakkuma's Theme Park Adventure'' would be releas ...

'' *Kaoru Toki 時カオル (f) - ''

Seitokai Yakuindomo is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Tozen Ujiie. It ran in Kodansha's ''Magazine Special'' from May 2007 to June 2008. It was then transferred to Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', where it ran from July ...

'' *Kaoru (m) - ''

Uninhabited Planet Survive! ''Planet Survival'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime television series. It was broadcast on NHK from October 2003 to October 28, 2004. It is a 52-episode series produced by Telecom Animation Film and Madhouse. Story The story is set ...

'' * Kaoru Akashi (f) - ''

Zettai Karen Children ''Psychic Squad'', known in Japan as is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takashi Shiina. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from July 2005 to July 2021, with its chapt ...

'' *Kaoru (f) - ''

Daughter of Smoke and Bone ''Daughter of Smoke and Bone'' is a fantasy novel written by Laini Taylor. Published in September 2011 by Hachette Book Group, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. The story follows Karou, a seventeen-year-old Prague art student. Karou wa ...

'' *

Kaoru Amane is a 2006 Japanese film directed by Norihiro Koizumi starring Yui. Upon release, ''A Song to the Sun'' was financially successful and helped launch Yui's music career. In addition, Yui also won the Best Newcomer Actress at the 30th Japan Academy ...

薫 (f) - '' Taiyou no Uta'' *Kaoru Asahina (m) - ''

Junjo Romantica is a Japanese boys love manga series by Shungiku Nakamura. It focuses on four storylines: the main couple, which comprises the bulk of the books, and three other male couples that provide ongoing side stories ("Junjo Egoist", "Junjo Terro ...

'' *Fujiwara no Kaoru a.k.a. Murasaki Shikibu (m) - ''Akane-sasu Sekai de Kimi to Utau'' *

Kaoru Genji Kaoru is a fictional character in ''The Tale of Genji'' (''Genji Monogatari''). He only appears as the lead for the novel's third act, called the 'Uji Jujo' (Uji Chapters). Kaoru has been called the first anti-hero in literature and is known fo ...

薫 (m) - ''

Tale of Genji Tale may refer to: * Narrative, or story, a report of real or imaginary connected events * TAL effector (TALE), a type of DNA binding protein * Tale, Albania, a resort town * Tale, Iran, a village * Tale, Maharashtra, a village in Ratnagiri distri ...

'' * Kaoru Hanabishi (m) - ''

Ai Yori Aoshi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kou Fumizuki. The manga was serialized in Hakusensha's ''Young Animal (magazine), Young Animal'' magazine from 1998 to 2005 and the chapters collected into 17 ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' *

Kaoru Hitachiin This is a list of characters from the shōjo manga series ''Ouran High School Host Club'', created by Bisco Hatori. Ouran Academy is an elite upper school catering to the ultra-rich. Haruhi Fujioka is a middle-class scholarship student, a rarity ...

馨 (m) - ''

Ouran High School Host Club is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Bisco Hatori, and serialized in Hakusensha's ''LaLa'' magazine between the September 2002 and November 2010 issues. The series follows Haruhi Fujioka, a scholarship student at Ouran Aca ...

'' *Kaoru Hondobou (m) - '' Gyakuten Saiban 3'' * Kaoru Kaidoh 薫 (m) - ''

Prince of Tennis is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in forty-two ''tankōbon'' volumes. ...

'' *Kaoru Kameyama (m) - ''

Aibō is a Japanese television detective series that first aired on TV Asahi on June 3, 2000. It has been adapted into six films: '' AIBOU: The Movie'' (2008), ''AIBOU: CSI Files'' (2009), '' AIBOU: The Movie II'' (2010), ''AIBOU: X-DAY'' (2013), '' A ...

'' *

Kaoru Kamiya , known as Kaoru Kamiya in the Media Blasters English-language Dubbing (filmmaking), dub and Kori Kamiya in the English Sony ''Samurai X'' dub, is a fictional character in the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' manga created by Nobuhiro Watsuki. In the story ...

薫 (f) - ''

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. The story begins during the 11th year of the Meiji period in Japan (1878) and follows a former assassin from the Bakumatsu, known as Hitokiri Battosai. After his work ...

'' *Kaoru Kiryuu 薫 (f) - ''

Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star , often shortened simply to ''PreCure Splash Star'', is a magical girl anime series produced by Toei Animation, and aired on TV Asahi between February 5, 2006 and January 28, 2007. It is the third series in Izumi Todo's ''Pretty Cure'' meta ...

'' *Kaoru Kiryūin (m) - ''

Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 is a rhythm video game developed by iNiS and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld video game console. It is the third of three rhythm games developed by iNiS for the DS, and is the sequel to ''Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan'' while incorpora ...

'' *

Kaoru Kishimoto The plot of ''Hikaru no Go'' revolves around the Japanese Go world. Several of the manga's prominent characters hold Go titles. The title holder is then called by a combination of their name and the title they hold. In the case of a multiple tit ...

薫 (m) - ''

Hikaru no Go is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekl ...

'' * Kaoru Koganei 薰 (m) - ''

Flame of Recca is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuyuki Anzai. It was serialized in Shogakukan's ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from April 1995 to February 2002, with its chapters collected in 33 ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series was ad ...

'' *Kaoru Kondo (f) - ''Saido Kā ni Inu'' *Kaoru Kurusu (m) - Uta no Prince-Sama *Kaoru Maki カオル (f) - ''Puella Magi Kazumi Magica'' *Kaoru Matoba 薫 (m) -

Area no Kishi is a Japanese manga series written by Hiroaki Igano and illustrated by Kaya Tsukiyama. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from April 2006 to March 2017, with its chapters collected in ...

*Kaoru Matsubara 松原かおる (f) - ''

Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z is a 2006 Japanese magical girl anime series directed by Megumu Ishiguro, based on the American animated television series ''The Powerpuff Girls''. The anime was co-produced by Cartoon Network (Japanese TV channel), Cartoon Network Japan and ...

'' *

Kaoru Matsutake This is a list of characters in the manga and anime series ''Mirmo!''. The main characters are four human teenagers and their fairy partners (called "muglox" according to ShoPro/Viz Media materials Mirmo! is a manga series written by Hiromu Shinozuka and serialized in '' Ciao'' magazine from July 2001 through December 2005. It was also published in twelve collected volumes by Shogakukan. The manga series was awarded in the 2003 Kodansha Mang ...

'' * Kaoru Mitarai (f) - ''

Pita Ten is a Japanese manga by Koge-Donbo. It was serialized in the shōnen manga magazine ''Dengeki Comic Gao!'' between the October 1999 and August 2003 issues and was later collected into eight tankōbon volumes. The eight volumes were localized f ...

'' *

Kaworu Nagisa , real name , is a fictional character from the '' Neon Genesis Evangelion'' franchise created by Gainax. In the series of the same name, he is the pilot of a giant mecha named Evangelion Unit 02 for the special agency Nerv. Kaworu is the s ...

渚カヲル (m) - ''

Neon Genesis Evangelion , also known simply as ''Evangelion'' or ''Eva'', is a Japanese mecha anime television series produced by Gainax and animated by Tatsunoko, directed by Hideaki Anno and broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 1995 to March 1996. ''Evangelion' ...

'' *

Kaoru Ōba ''Ace Attorney'' is a series of legal thriller comedy-drama adventure/visual novel games created by Shu Takumi. Players assume the role of a defense attorney in a fictional courtroom setting in the main series. Published by Capcom, the serie ...

(Wendy Oldbag) (f) - '' Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'' *

Kaoru Orihara is a Japanese manga series by Riyoko Ikeda. It was adapted into an anime series that aired on the channel NHK-BS2 from July 14, 1991 to May 31, 1992. The series originally started out as a manga in the early to mid-1970s. The story is ...

(also known as "Kaoru-no-kimi") (f) - '' Oniisama e...'' *

Kaoru Saionji is a Japanese media franchise originating from the Windows game ''Gakuen Heaven: Boy's Love Scramble'', originally released by the company SPRAY. The franchise gradually expanded to include more games, drama CDs, manga, and anime. Plot K ...

(m) - ''

Gakuen Heaven is a Japanese media franchise originating from the Windows game ''Gakuen Heaven: Boy's Love Scramble'', originally released by the company SPRAY. The franchise gradually expanded to include more games, drama CDs, manga, and anime. Plot K ...

'' *Kaoru Sakurazuka (m) - '' Yin-Yang! X-Change Alternative'' *Kaoru Sasakura (f) -''

Marumo no Okite is a Japanese television series which premiered on Fuji TV on April 24, 2011. This television series stars Sadao Abe as Mamoru Takagi, a public relations officer with a stationery company. It also stars child actor Fuku Suzuki and child actress ...

'' *Kaoru Seo (m) - ''

Sekirei is a Japanese manga series by Sakurako Gokurakuin. The manga was serialized in Square Enix's ''seinen'' magazine ''Young Gangan'' between December 2004 and August 2015. A sequel to the manga began serialization in the same magazine in May 201 ...

'' *Kaoru Shiba (f) - ''

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger is the title of Toei Company's thirty-third entry in its long-running Super Sentai metaseries of Japanese tokusatsu television series. It premiered on February 15, 2009, the week following the finale of ''Engine Sentai Go-onger'', and ended on F ...

'' *Kaoru Sugimura (m) - ''

Nana to Kaoru is a Japanese erotic romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Ryuta Amazume. It was serialized on Hakusensha's ''seinen'' manga magazine '' Young Animal Arashi'' (2008–2009) and ''Young Animal'' (2009–2016), with its ...

'' *Kaoru Watabe (f) - '' King of Fighters 97'' * Kaoru Yamazaki 山崎薫 (m) - ''

Welcome to the NHK is a Japanese novel written by Tatsuhiko Takimoto. It was published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan in January 2002, and in English by Tokyopop in October 2007. The story revolves around a 22-year-old ''hikikomori'', an asocial recluse, who gets ...

'' *Kaoru Mido (f) - '' Tsukuyomi: Moon Phase'' *

Kaoru Ichihara Kaoru is a Japanese given name for males or females. Name Meanings The name's meaning varies depending on its written form: *薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance", common for both males and females *馨/香 — "fragrance", more common for females ...

壱原かおる (f) - ''

Mahou No Princess Club! De Javu! Mahou or is the Japanese word for "magic", "sorcery" or "witchcraft". Mahou may also refer to: *Mahou (beer), brewed by the Spanish brewing company Grupo Mahou-San Miguel *Mahou-San Miguel Group, a Spanish brewing company *Mahou, Mali *Magical C ...

'' *

Kaoru Kirishima Kaoru is a Japanese given name for males or females. Name Meanings The name's meaning varies depending on its written form: *薫/郁/芳 — "fragrance", common for both males and females *馨/香 — "fragrance", more common for females ...

(m) - ''

Our Two Bedroom Love Story Our or OUR may refer to: * The possessive form of " we" * Our (river), in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany * Our, Belgium, a village in Belgium * Our, Jura, a commune in France * Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), a government utility regulato ...

'' *Kaoru Nagumo (m) - ''

Hakuouki is a Japanese ''otome'' video game series by Idea Factory, first released for the PlayStation 2 in 18 September 2008 and ported to many other platforms. It has been adapted into an anime series by Studio Deen; the first series was broa ...

'' *Kaoru Seta 瀬田薫 (f) - ''

BanG Dream! ''BanG Dream!'', also known as , is a Japanese music media franchise owned by Bushiroad. Created by Bushiroad president Takaaki Kidani in January 2015 with original story by Kō Nakamura, the project began as a manga before exp ...

'' *Kaoru Sakurayashiki (m) - ''

SK8 the Infinity is a Japanese original anime television series produced and animated by Bones (studio), Bones that aired from January to April 2021 on Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, ABC and TV Asahi's programming block. A comedy manga Spin-off (media) ...

'' All names (except for Fujiwara no Kaoru and Kamiya Kaoru) are in western naming order.

Name Meanings

People

Fictional characters

References

See also