is a very common

Japanese given name in modern times consist of a family name (surname) followed by a given name, in that order. Nevertheless, when a Japanese name is written in the Roman alphabet, ever since the Meiji era, the official policy has been to cater to Western expecta ...

used by either sex.

Possible writings

Yū can be written using different

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

characters and can mean: *優, "tenderness" or "superiority" *夕, "evening" *友, "friend" *有, "qualified" *勇, "courage" *祐, "help" *裕, "abundant" *雄, "masculine" *悠, "permanence" *由宇, "reason, eaves" *侑, "assist" The name can also be written 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 ...

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 f ...

People

;with the given name Yū * Yu Aida (裕), a Japanese manga artist and illustrator *

Yū Aoi is a Japanese actress and model. She made her film debut as Shiori Tsuda in Shunji Iwai's 2001 film ''All About Lily Chou-Chou''. She subsequently portrayed Tetsuko Arisugawa in '' Hana and Alice'' (2004), also directed by Iwai, Kimiko Tanigawa i ...

(優), a Japanese actress * Yū Asagiri (夕), a Japanese manga artist *

Yū Asakawa is a Japanese Voice acting in Japan, voice actress from Tokyo, Japan. She also provides the voice samples for Crypton Future Media's Vocaloid character, Megurine Luka. Asakawa is currently a freelance voice actress and was previously attached to ...

(悠, born 1975), a Japanese voice actress *

Yu Darvish , more commonly known as Yu Darvish (ダルビッシュ有), is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). Darvish has also played in MLB for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and ...

(有), an Iranian-Japanese starting pitcher *, Japanese footballer *

Yū Hayami is a Japanese singer and tarento. In 2011, the Japanese music television program '' Music Station'' listed her as the 50th all-time best-selling idol in Japan, with 2,850,000 records sold. Childhood and education Hayami was born in Atami, ...

(優), a Japanese pop singer and actress * Yū Hasebe (優), a Japanese actress, singer and model * Yū Hayashi (勇), a Japanese voice actor and singer *

Yuu Kashii , known by her stage name , is a Japanese actress and model. She studied at Mejiro University, where she majored in English. History Personal life She married actor Joe Odagiri, who is exactly 11 years her senior, on February 16, 2008, the birth ...

(由宇), a Japanese actress and model *

Yuu Kikkawa is a Japanese singer and actress. Kikkawa achieved early fame portraying Kobeni Hanasaki from '' Kirarin Revolution Stage 3'' and later debuted as a solo singer with the song, "Kikkake wa You!" Career 2006–2010: Pre-debut, ''Kirarin Revoluti ...

(友), a Japanese pop singer *

Yū Kikumura was allegedly a member of the Japanese Red Army, an armed militant organization. Arrest in The Netherlands Police arrested Kikumura in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in 1986 when they found him carrying a bomb in his luggage. After spending fo ...

(憂), a member of the Japanese Red Army *, Japanese boxer *, Japanese footballer *

Yū Kobayashi is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Holy Peak. Some of her most prominent roles include that of Tadamichi Aoba in ''Dan Doh!!'', Setsuna Sakurazaki in ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi'', Dan Kuso in '' Bakugan Battle Brawlers'', ...

(ゆう, born 1982), a Japanese voice actress *, Japanese footballer *

Yū Koyama is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from the University of Shizuoka he moved to Tokyo and in 1968 took a job with Saito Productions, the company run by Takao Saitō. In 1971 he worked with Kazuo Koike at Studio Ship. Koyama debuted in ...

(ゆう), a Japanese manga artist *, Japanese artistic gymnast *, Japanese sport wrestler *

Yuu Miyake is a Japanese composer and sound engineer formally for Bandai Namco Entertainment. His most known work surfaced with ''Katamari Damacy'' soundtracks, on which he served as a sound director. Other notable works include various tracks in the ''Tekke ...

(優), a Japanese composer and sound engineer *

Yū Mizushima is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator. He is the Japanese voice-over for Sammo Hung, and is the Japanese voice of Wakko. In the 1980s, He proved to be a popular choice for many Japanese animation studios for the roles of male heart-thro ...

(裕), a Japanese voice actor * Yu Nakajima (悠), a Japanese Rubik's Cube solver *, Japanese women's footballer *, Japanese voice actress *, Japanese voice actress and singer *, usually written

You Shiina is a Japanese freelance illustrator and manga artist. They have worked on light novel and children's book covers and illustrations as well as game package and character design. They are best known for their illustration work on the ''Ascendance ...

, Japanese illustrator and manga artist * Yū Shimaka (裕), a Japanese voice actor *, Japanese voice actress *

Yuu Shirota is a Japanese-Spanish actor and singer, most known for his role as Kagurazaka Makoto in the Japanese television drama live action adaption of ''Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, Hana-Kimi'', Kunimitsu Tezuka in the ''Tenimyu, Prince of Tennis Musicals' ...

(優), a Japanese-Spanish actor and singer * Yuu Shiroyama (優), real name of The Gazette's guitarist Aoi *

Yū Sugimoto is a Japanese voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-ove ...

(ゆう), a Japanese voice actress *

Yu Suzuki is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's arcade hits, including three-dimen ...

(裕), a Japanese game designer and producer *

Yu Takahashi is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He debuted on a major label in 2010, with his singles "Subarashiki Nichijō" and "Honto no Kimochi". Biography Takahashi grew up in Yokote, Akita, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. He started to learn the electri ...

(高橋優), a Japanese singer-songwriter * Yū Terashima (優), a Japanese manga artist *

Yu Todoroki Yu Todoroki (轟悠 ''Todoroki Yū'') is a current member of Takarazuka Revue, where she plays an otokoyaku. She joined the Revue in 1985, became the top star of Snow Troupe in 1997, transferred to Superior Members in 2002 (upon the resignation of ...

(悠), a Japanese Takarasienne * Yū Wakui: (和久井優), a Japanese voice actress *

Yuu Watase is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1989 at the age of 18 with the short story "Pajama de Ojama" (, "An Intrusion in Pajamas") and has since published more than 50 volumes of one-shots and long-running manga series. One of her most po ...

(悠宇), a Japanese shōjo manga artist *

Yuu Yabuuchi Yuu or YUU may refer to: * Yū, Yamaguchi, or Yuu, a town in Kuga District, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan * Yuu (wrestler), Japanese professional wrestler * Yuu Shiina, usually written You Shiina is a Japanese freelance illustrator and manga arti ...

(優), a Japanese manga artist *

Yu Yagami is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for the manga ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', which was adapted as an anime series. His works ''Those Who Hunt Elves'', '' Dokkoida?!'', '' Go West!'', and '' Hikkatsu! Strike a Blow to Vivify'' have been ...

(裕), a Japanese manga artist *

Yu Yamada is a Japanese model, actress and singer best known from her modeling work with ''CanCam'' magazine. Personal life On March 14, 2012, Yamada married Japanese actor Shun Oguri, and is a mother of three children, as of April 2020, according to r ...

(優), a Ryukyuan model, actress, and singer * Yu Yokoyama (裕), a member of the Japanese idol group ''Kanjani8''

Fictional characters

;with the given name Yū * Yu Kajima (カジマ), a character from the ''

Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...

'' anime series * Yuu Asou (麻生優雨), a character from the '' Fatal Frame III: The Tormented'' video game series * Yū Kanda (ユウ), a main character in the manga series '' D.Gray-man'' * Yū Komori (ユウ), a main character in '' Spider-Man: The Manga'' * Yuu Matsuura (遊), a central character in the shōjo manga series ''

Marmalade Boy is a shōjo manga series by Wataru Yoshizumi. It was published by Shueisha in the magazine ''Ribon'' from May 1992 to October 1995 and collected in eight ''tankōbon'' volumes. The series was adapted by Toei Animation as a 76-episode an ...

'' * Yū Nishinoya (夕), a character from the

Haikyū!! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Haruichi Furudate. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from February 2012 to July 2020, with its chapters collected in 45 ''tankōbo ...

anime series * Yuu Kashima (遊), a character from the

Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Izumi Tsubaki. The chapters are serialized online in '' Gangan Online'', and have been published in both physical and digital releases of Shoujo Romance Girly and ''tankōb ...

anime series * Yu Ominae (優), the main character of the manga series ''

Spriggan A spriggan is a legendary creature from Cornish mythology, Cornish folklore. Spriggans are particularly associated with West Penwith in Cornwall. Etymology ''Spriggan'' is a dialect word, pronounced with the grapheme as /d͡ʒ/, sprid-jan, ...

'' * Yu Narukami (鳴上悠), the official name of the protagonist of ''

Persona 4 released outside of Japan as ''Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4'', is a 2008 role-playing video game by Atlus. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the ''Persona'' series, itself a part of the larger ''Megami Tensei'' franchise, and was ...

'' * Yū Kōtari (神足ユウ), a character from the '' BLACK★ROCK SHOOTER'' anime series * '' Yu Ishigami'' (石上優), a character from the manga series '' Kaguya-sama: Love is War'' * Yuu Otosaka (乙坂有宇), a character from the anime television series ''

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

'' * , a character from the anime series ''

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is a Japanese multimedia spin-off project from the ''Love Live!'' series and its game series ''Love Live! School Idol Festival''. It was first introduced in 2017 as "Perfect Dream Project" and was initially created as part of the game ''Lov ...

'' * Yū, a character from ''

Dōbutsu no Mori (film) is a social simulation video game series developed and published by Nintendo. The series was conceptualized and created by Katsuya Eguchi and Hisashi Nogami. In ''Animal Crossing'', the player character is a human who lives in a village inhabi ...

'' * Yū Naruse (usually called Yuu-chan), a main character in the manga

WataMote , commonly referred to as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by two people under the pseudonym Nico Tanigawa. It began serialization on Square Enix's '' Gangan Online'' service from August 4, 2011 and is published by Yen Pr ...

* Yū Koito (小糸侑), the main character from the anime '' Bloom into You'' * Yū Nanba (難波悠), a supporting character and party member in '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Yu Japanese unisex given names