etsu

Etsu is a Japanese feminine given name. The meaning of the name varies with the kanji used and can convey concepts such as delight, joy, blessing, or prosperity. It is typically pronounced as two syllables, et-su, and is usually written in kanji or kana. The name is more common in historical and contemporary Japanese usage and appears in various regional naming traditions.

In Japanese onomastics, Etsu is one of several traditional short feminine names that end with a simple consonant-vowel pattern. The specific nuance of the name changes with the chosen kanji, so different bearers may have substantially different meanings even though the pronunciation remains the same. The name can also be rendered in kana, which removes any ambiguity about its reading.

In culture and media, Etsu has been used for fictional characters in literature, manga, and animation, reflecting a range of personalities and roles. As with many Japanese names, the phonetic form Etsu can correspond to different written forms, each carrying its own nuance depending on the kanji.

Notable people with the given name include individuals from diverse fields such as the arts and public life; the precise meaning of their names depends on the kanji characters chosen for their birth names. Because kanji selection drives the interpretive nuance, Etsu is best understood as a flexible name with multiple possible meanings tied to its writing rather than a single fixed interpretation.

See also: The name Etsu may appear in transliterations of Japanese sources and should not be confused with other similarly sounding names in different languages.