Japanese names

Pls help me with the following name:

Is Hiromi Shibuya a girl or a boy?

Is Akio Lida a boy or a girl?

If is girl I should address Hiromi chan?
If is boy I should address Hiromi san?

Thank You for the help!

Ben san

Hi Ben,

I do believe that Akio is a boys name and Hiromi is a girls.
Please check these links,

http://japanese.about.com/blboysname_a.htm

http://japanese.about.com/blgirlsname_h.htm

Akio is a guy, and his surname is like to to be Iida (two i's) rather than Lida as L isn't used in Japanese.

Hiromi is most likely a girl but it occasionally comes up as a guy's name- not so much for younger guys though.

There is a singer called Hiromi Go who is a man, for example.

Ben,

If is girl I should address Hiromi chan?
If is boy I should address Hiromi san?

Depends on how old they are.

Even if Hiromi is a girl, unless she is under 10 if you don't know her well it's probably best not to call her Hiromi chan.

Also if you are writing a letter or email, don't sign yourself as Ben san, san is used with other people's names, never your own.

well Chan means girl and Kun means boy, San is respect for someone older or someone you dont really know. i'd say Hiromi is a girls name and Akio i believe is a boys.

well Chan means girl and Kun means boy

Just to clarify some things, when -chan or -kun is used,
-kun indicates that the person is a boy, while a girl will be -chan and never -kun. However, -chan is often used for boys as well. For example, Ken-chan is a common nickname for Kenji. Using -chan or -kun kinda depends on the flow of the name.

San is respect for someone older or someone you dont really know.

It's more like -san is used as the default attachment to a name regardless of your relationship to the person. You could then modify the politeness and familiarity up or down depending on your relationship to them.

i'd say Hiromi is a girls name and Akio i believe is a boys.

Both of these names are rather ambigious. Hiromi is typically a girls name but is also used as a boys name. I believe Akio is typically a boys name but all the Akio's I've met have been women. They're like unisex English names such as Casey or Morgan.

yllwsmrf, I think you have met Akiyos rather than women called Akio. Names ending in お are always masculine as far as I know- it is like the guy's version of the 子 ending.

Definitely a possibility since I still have trouble distinguishing the O an Yo sound when people tell me their names.

Both Hiromi and Akio are unisex names.

Hiromi = Yanagihara Hiromi is a famous female pop singer, while Go Hiromi is a famous male pop singer.

Akio = Otsuka Akio is a male voice actor, while I cannot say a female who bares the name "Akio" I can definitly say it is possible for a woman to carry it. In another thread "Japanese Baby Names" I think, there was a poster whose grandmother was named "Nakao". So if there are "Nakao"s there must be "Akio"s too. (as odd as it is)

I also must point out there is no such surname as "Lida". There is no "Li" sound in japanese, that would be "Ri"...but I am sure you meant to say Iida, a common japanese surname.

As for how to address these people, I would recommend "Surname" + "San" unless they say you can call them by their given names and cute suffixes like "Chan" or "Kun.