Kanji for “princess”

A princess, whether as a royal title or as an affectionate name for someone treasured.

姫 hime

Closest natural translation · misunderstanding risk Medium

Reading: hime — Common standalone reading; kun-yomi
About the reading: Read hime alone, and -hime as a suffix on names.
Literal meaning: Princess, young noblewoman
What it suggests: A princess of the old courtly kind rather than a modern royal. Warm and slightly storybook. In Japanese it carries no suggestion of a concubine or a mistress.
When to use it: For princess in the affectionate or classical sense.
On its own: Natural on its own, though it sounds like something out of a tale.
In compounds: Natural as a name suffix, as in かぐや姫 (Princess Kaguya).
As a tattoo: Pretty and readable. Bear in mind it is the word an adult would use for a child or a sweetheart, so it can read as a pet name rather than a title.
Worth knowing: 姫 and the Chinese 姬 are the same character written two ways, not two separate characters — the Japanese shape is the later one. The senses parted company along the way: from a woman of noble standing, Japanese kept the princess reading while Chinese developed consort and then concubine. Two things follow for a tattoo. Fonts and software substitute one shape for the other without telling you, and somebody reading it as Chinese takes the Chinese sense. Check the exact shape in the final stencil rather than in an emailed design.

王女 ōjo

Related meaning, not a literal translation · misunderstanding risk Low

Reading: ōjo — Common compound reading
About the reading: The ordinary modern word.
Literal meaning: King's daughter; princess
What it suggests: The literal royal rank, the word used in news reports about actual monarchies. Precise and entirely unromantic.
When to use it: For a princess by birth and title.
On its own: Natural, and plainly factual.
In compounds: Natural in 王女様 and in titles.
As a tattoo: Reads as a job description. Correct, but it has none of the warmth of 姫.

姫君 himegimi

Symbolic choice, not a literal translation · misunderstanding risk Medium

Reading: himegimi — Classical compound; kun-yomi
About the reading: The 君 is an honorific here, not the word for you.
Literal meaning: The lady; a nobleman's daughter
What it suggests: How a retainer would refer to the daughter of the house in a historical setting. Respectful, distinctly period, and never used of a living person today.
When to use it: For a deliberately classical, formal register.
On its own: Natural in historical writing; archaic in speech.
In compounds: A complete word in itself.
As a tattoo: Elegant and clearly old-fashioned, which is either the point or a problem. It inherits the same 姫 / 姬 look-alike issue.
Worth knowing: Contains 姫, so the same shape-and-language split applies here too.

Before it is permanent: have a fluent Japanese speaker check the exact characters in the final stencil, not in an email. Fonts substitute look-alike characters, and a shop that cannot read Japanese cannot catch it.

Check characters you already have