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Yuki Onna Names: 60 Snow Woman Names With Their Meanings and Sources
By Metavulgar · updated 2026-11-12 · 6 min read
Yuki onna names are harder to find than you would expect, because the snow woman of Japanese folklore usually has no name at all. She is yuki-onna, "snow woman", and that is the whole label. The famous exception is O-Yuki, the name she uses when she lives as a wife in Lafcadio Hearn's story in Kwaidan (1904). Everything else in this list is built from real Japanese words for snow, frost and winter, or invented by me, and each section says which.
What the legend actually gives you
The snow woman appears in winter storms as a tall, pale woman in a white kimono. In Hearn's telling, she freezes an old woodcutter, Mosaku, in a storm-bound hut and spares the young Minokichi on one condition: he must never tell anyone what he saw. Years later he marries a woman named O-Yuki, and when he finally speaks of that night she reveals herself and vanishes. Hearn notes that "Yuki" means snow and is not an unusual name for a woman.
Other tellings are looser. Some describe her as the ghost of someone who froze in the mountains, and a regional tale in Yamagata links her to a moon princess. Older accounts of the snow woman differ from the one Hearn made famous, which is why a name from one source may not suit the version you are writing. Treat the folklore names below as starting points, not rules.
Folklore names
- O-Yuki (お雪): "Snow". The name Hearn gives her when she lives as a wife. The "O-" is an honorific prefix.
- Oyuki: the same name, spelled without the hyphen in many retellings.
- Yuki-onna (雪女): "snow woman". Fine as a title or an epithet; I would not use it as a given name.
- Yuki-jorō (雪女郎): a regional name for the snow woman in some areas of Japan, literally "snow woman" with an older word for woman.
- Yukinba: "snow hag", a regional variant that points to the older, frightening versions.
- Tsurara-onna: "icicle woman", a name given to an icicle-like cousin in some collections of regional yokai tales.
Names from the word "yuki" (snow)
Yuki is one of the most common elements in Japanese women's names. These are real given names with real meanings:
- Yuki (雪): snow.
- Yukiko (雪子): a classic given name built on yuki; for an adult character the short form Yuki also works.
- Yukina (雪菜): snow greens, a soft, wintry name.
- Yukino (雪乃): of the snow.
- Yukie (雪恵): snow blessing.
- Yukimi (雪見): snow viewing, the pleasure of watching snow fall.
- Yukika (雪花): snow flower.
- Yukina-san: a polite form, useful in dialogue.
- Miyuki (深雪): deep snow, a classic winter name.
- Fuyuki (冬雪): winter snow.
- Sayuki (小雪): little snow, also the name of a solar term in the old calendar.
- Shirayuki (白雪): white snow. It is the Japanese word used for the snow-white of fairy tales.
- Yukihime (雪姫): snow princess, a regal title.
- Yukiyo (雪世): snow world.
Names built on ice, frost and cold
All real words, usable as given names or as chosen titles:
- Kōri (氷): ice. Rarely a given name, striking as a title.
- Kōrihime (氷姫): ice princess.
- Shimo (霜): frost.
- Shimoka (霜華): frost blossom.
- Hyōka (氷花): ice flower.
- Tsurara (氷柱): icicle.
- Reika (冷香): cold fragrance.
- Reina (冷奈): a cool, restrained name.
- Fubuki (吹雪): blowing snow, a snowstorm. A superb name for a storm-bound snow woman.
- Kasumi (霞): mist, haze; real name, fits foggy mountain air.
- Kirari: a glitter sound word; useful as an invented-feeling name.
- Setsu (雪): another reading of the snow character, short and cutting.
- Setsuko (雪子): a real, old-fashioned name using the Setsu reading.
- Setsuna (刹那): a moment, an instant; fits a figure who vanishes.
- Hisame (氷雨): cold rain, freezing rain.
- Konoha-no-yuki: a poetic phrase rather than a name: snow among the leaves.
Winter and storm names
- Fuyu (冬): winter.
- Fuyuko (冬子): winter woman.
- Fuyuka (冬花): winter flower.
- Fuyumi (冬美): winter beauty.
- Mifuyu (美冬): beautiful winter.
- Haru no Yuki: spring snow, for a figure who lingers past her season.
- Tsukiyo (月夜): moonlit night.
- Tsukiko (月子): moon woman, which echoes the Yamagata moon-princess tale.
- Kaguya (輝夜): "shining night", the moon princess of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a real classic of Japanese literature.
- Hotaru (蛍): firefly, a light in the dark.
- Yoru (夜): night.
- Shiro (白): white.
- Shirohime (白姫): white princess.
- Shirogane (白銀): silver-white, the colour of snow in moonlight.
Dark and dangerous names
These come from the frightening side of the legend:
- Kuroyuki (黒雪): black snow. Invented by me, a poetic contrast.
- Yamayuki (山雪): mountain snow.
- Fubukime (吹雪女): storm woman. Invented.
- Samue: from samui, cold; an invented, soft-sounding name.
- Kōrime (氷女): ice woman. Invented.
- Tojiyuki: from tojiru, to close or seal; a closing snow. Invented.
- Yukinbaba: "snow granny", a folklore-flavoured joke name; not for a seductive character.
- Mayuki: invented, "true snow", easy to say.
- Kiriyuki: "mist snow". Invented.
- Shirakumo (白雲): white cloud.
Short names that work in dialogue
If you want something quick to say in a scene or an audio script: Yuki, Setsu, Shimo, Fuyu, Kori, Rei, Mizore (sleet), Hina, Sora, Mine, Kaze (wind), Tsuki (moon), Kiri (mist). Short names sound clean in a whisper, which is why I lean on them in audio.
Names from Japanese winter and snow vocabulary you can borrow
Beyond personal names, a snow woman gets a lot of texture from the words around her. These are real Japanese words, handy for titles, places in your story, or the name of a particular storm:
- Fubuki (吹雪): a snowstorm with driving wind, the weather she arrives in.
- Kazahana (風花): snow flakes blown from a distant mountain under a clear sky, the "wind flower".
- Mizore (霙): sleet.
- Shigure (時雨): a passing winter shower.
- Sasameyuki (細雪): fine, thin snow, and the title of a famous Japanese novel.
- Botan-yuki (牡丹雪): peony snow, the big wet flakes.
- Kōri no hana: flowers of ice, the frost on a window.
- Yukiakari (雪明かり): the glow snow throws on a night landscape.
- Yukigesho (雪化粧): "snow makeup", the look of a landscape dressed in white.
- Yukigakoi (雪囲い): the straw protection placed around trees against heavy snow.
Using the vocabulary as place names is a neat trick: the lodge in the story might be Yukiakari, the pass Fubuki-tōge, and the woman herself simply Setsu.
Notes on pronunciation and spelling
Japanese names are usually written in rōmaji with macrons for long vowels (Setsuko, Fubuki, Kōri). In audio you do not hear macrons, so write a plain spelling for the script and add the macron form on the page. The "yu" in yuki is pronounced like the English "you", and the final "i" is clearly sounded. If you are voicing it, give the name a slight lift on the second syllable: yu-KI. A snow woman who says your name in a whisper, then hers, is a very different scene from one who gives only a title, and the name you choose sets that mood in the first line.
How to choose
- Decide which version you are telling. For Hearn's tale, O-Yuki. For a regional storm spirit, a title like Fubuki or Yuki-jorō. For a monster girl romance, a real given name such as Miyuki or Setsuko.
- Mark invented names as invented. A made-up name dressed as folklore is a trap for the next writer.
- Say it aloud. Names with long vowel runs are lovely on paper and awkward in a whisper.
- Keep it adult. She is an ancient spirit of great age; avoid "-chan" and any nickname that reads as youthful.
- Use a pair. A given name for the human disguise, a title for the storm form: Oyuki by day, the Snow Woman by night.
Where to go next
If you want the snow woman in audio, Hush is my slow winter-lodge session, and the monster girl bestiary puts her beside the others. For other name lists, try monster girl names, banshee names and gorgon names. If you are new here, Start Here is the gentlest door, and monster girl types explains where the snow woman sits in the wider family.
Frequently asked questions
What is the snow woman called in Japanese folklore?
Yuki-onna, "snow woman". In Lafcadio Hearn's story she takes the name O-Yuki when she lives as a wife. Regional tales use other titles, such as Yuki-jorō, but most versions give her no personal name.
What does Yuki mean?
Yuki means snow in Japanese, written 雪. It is one of the most common elements in women's names, as in Yuki, Miyuki, Yukina and Shirayuki. The same character can be read Setsu.
What are good names for a snow woman character?
O-Yuki, Fubuki, Setsuko, Miyuki and Shirayuki are real names with winter meanings. Fubuki means a snowstorm and Shirayuki means white snow. Invented options such as Kuroyuki or Kōrime should be marked as invented.
Is O-Yuki a real name?
Yes. Hearn notes that Yuki, meaning snow, is a common name, and O- is an honorific prefix. It is both a real name and the name the snow woman uses in his Kwaidan story.
Should I use an invented name or a folklore one?
Use a folklore name when you want the legend's weight and an invented one when you need something unique. Mark invented names clearly so that nobody mistakes them for old tradition.
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