The story of My Hero Academia is bursting with colorful and lovable characters, and author Kohei Horikoshi clearly worked hard to put a lot of nuanced detail into their designs, from their personalities to their stylish hero costumes and even their names. In this story, a name isn't just a name. It can describe a character on a deeper level.

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A Japanese name is written with kanji, a logographic writing system where a character represents an idea rather than a single sound, and a given name can be written with a variety of kanji. In particular, the characters of Class 1-A at U.A. have meaningful names based on their kanji, and some meanings aren't too obvious at first glance.

10 Momo Yaoyorozu - The Uncountable Number

my hero academia, smartest girl momo yaoyorozu bathing in flames

Momo Yaoyorozu is the smartest student in Class 1-A, and probably the smartest student in all of Japan. Her intelligence is vital for her Creation Quirk, which allows her to create a variety of non-organic items and materials from her bare skin. If Momo understands an item's composition and inner workings, she can make it, including functional electronic devices.

The possibilities are seemingly endless, and that reflects in Momo's full name. "Yaoyorozu" is spelled with the kanji for "eight one hundred ten thousand," and her first name is "One hundred." Altogether, this makes "eight million," which in Japanese can be taken to mean "an uncountable number," since her Quirk can make a huge variety of items.

9 Yuga Aoyama - A Fashionable Area Of Tokyo

yuga aoyama my hero academia

Yuga Aoyama may not be Class 1-A's best student in a fight or even on paper, but he does have serious style and a cool hero costume, and Yuga's full name reflects his refined taste in fashion and hairstyles. Yuga cares a great deal about his appearance, and "Yuga Aoyama" is loaded with meaning.

His first name has the kanji for "excellent" and "graceful, refined," which is a good start. His last name can be read as "blue mountain," and it also describes a trendy and fashionable area in Tokyo. No doubt Yuga would love to visit the actual Aoyama and live up to his meaningful name.

8 Rikido Sato - The Path To Sugar Power

Rikido sato holding his neck

Rikido Sato is a gentle giant with a warm and charming disposition, but he's no pacifist in battle. Rikido is a fierce melee fighter with the Sugar Rush Quirk, which greatly augments his already brawny physique and allows him to deliver devastating punches for a few minutes in battle.

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Rikido's first name is written as "path to power," and sure enough, any serious U.A. student is on a path to power as a Pro Hero. Rikido's last name, Sato, sounds similar to a common Japanese surname, and in Rikido's case, it's actually written as "sugar," as per his Quirk.

7 Ochaco Uraraka - A Lovely Day For Tea

ochaco uraraka mha

Ochaco Uraraka is one of the main characters in the series, and she is one of Izuku's best friends. She looks up to Izuku as her role model, and she is easy to like due to her gritty underdog status and her charming personality. Ochaco's full name reflects her lovely personality in a few ways, though it's not always so literal.

Ochaco's first name is written as "tea" and "child," though she isn't often seen drinking tea. It's the villain Gentle Criminal who loves tea, in fact. Ochaco's last name is more accurate, being written as "beautiful" and "day," and sure enough, Ochaco sees the beauty and charm in everyday life. It reflects her positive and upbeat mentality.

6 Eijiro Kirishima - A Sharp Son

Eijiro Kirishima At UA's Sports Festival

Eijiro Kirishima is a friend of Katsuki Bakugo's, and like Katsuki, Eijiro has a gung-ho and enthusiastic personality without being a bully about it. Eijiro is like a more positive version of Katsuki, and his name reflects both his manly personality and the sharp edges of his hardened skin.

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Eijiro's first name has the kanji for "sharp newborn son," among other meanings, meaning he is a strong boy who will impress his parents with his hardened, sharp skin in battle. His last name has characters for "to cut" and "island," further describing his sharp skin. It could also be interpreted as a reference to "no man is an island," though that probably wasn't the original intention.

5 Tenya Iida - The Fast Temple Defender

tenya iida happy my hero academia

Tenya Iida is the bookish class rep of Class 1-A, and when it comes to name meanings, "Tenya Iida" is a curious case. Based on the kanji, his first name is "heaven, alas," and his last name is "cooked rice, rice field." But when his entire name is combined, it becomes something new.

In Japanese, he is known as Iida Tenya, and put together, this sounds just like "Idaten," a symbolically fast runner in Japanese folklore who defends Buddhist shrines. This can describe any fast runner, and Tenya Iida certainly is one.

4  Toru Hagakure - Hiding Leaves In The Forest

Toru puts a hand to her chest

Toru Hagakure is the invisible girl of Class 1-A, and she is also the oldest girl in the class. She is known for her upbeat personality and her advanced stealth capabilities owed to her see-through body, and her name reflects this in more than one way.

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Kanji-wise, Toru's first name is "invisible," and her last name is "leaf, to disappear." Most likely, this name was chosen to reflect a quote stating how a wise man will hide a leaf in a forest. Interestingly, Naruto fans know that the main setting is Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves. Its name certainly includes "hagakure," after the "Kono."

3 Izuku Midoriya - Coming From An Old Story To Become #9

MHA's Deku in Costume Gamma

The shonen hero himself, Izuku Midoriya, has a fairly tricky name to unpack when it comes to kanji. His last name is fairly straightforward, having the kanji for "green, valley," to reflect his vivid green hair. His first name is more complex.

The characters of Izuku's name can roughly mean things such as "old story" and "to come from," but there's more. The "ku" part of his name sounds like the character for the number 9, which refers to Izuku being the 9th and possibly final wielder of One For All. This fits the "old story" part of his name, since the saga of One For All stretches back for generations.

2 Mina Ashido - Double Acid

Mina Ashido is cracking her knuckles

Mina Ashido is in a similar position as Tenya Iida when it comes to the meaning of names. The kanji in her name don't reflect her character or acid-based Quirk very much, but there are other ways to interpret her name. Kanji-wise, "Mina" is "three, apple tree," and "Ashido" is "reed, door."

Then again, phonetically speaking, the surname Ashido sounds similar to the English word "acid," and that may have been entirely on purpose. Meanwhile, the "three" character in her first name is pronounced the same way as the Japanese kanji for "acid," so Mina's first and last names both refer to acid somehow.

1 Mezo Shoji - The Doors Have Eyes

mezo shoji from my hero academia

Mezo Shoji has a tricky name to interpret, and in a roundabout way, it refers to his many extra mouths, eyes and ears with his Quirk. In kanji terms, his first name is "eyeball, storehouse," and his last name is "to harm, child." There are other ways to interpret this, though.

Mezo's last name, Shoji, can also describe a sliding door, and that door-based name, combined with his eyeball-based first name, reflects a certain Chinese saying. It goes: "walls have ears, doors have eyes."

Next: My Hero Academia: 5 Harsh Realities Of Being In Class 1-A (& 5 Perks)