Hiroko
A Japanese feminine name meaning "generous, gracious child" or "child from a prosperous town".
Name Census estimates that about 93 living Americans carry the first name Hiroko. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Hiroko today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Hiroko births was 1919 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Hiroko. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Hiroko with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Hiroko. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
93
~ 1 in 3,685,531 Americans
Peak year
1919
19 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1992 SSA rank
#14,057
Tracked since 1914
Census
Hiroko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,836 people with the first name Hiroko, which placed it at #5,852 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,852
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,836 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Hiroko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiroko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.3%) and White (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Hiroko described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Hiroko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.1% · 2,753
- Two or more races1.3% · 38
- White0.7% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 16
- Black or African American0.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Hiroko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Hiroko from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 109 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Hiroko by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Hiroko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Hirokos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Hiroko
The name Hiroko is a Japanese given name that has its origins in the Japanese language. It is a combination of the Japanese words "hiro" meaning "generous" or "abundant" and "ko" meaning "child" or "little one". Together, the name can be interpreted as meaning "generous child" or "abundant little one".
The name Hiroko has been in use in Japan for centuries, with records of it appearing in historical documents and literary works dating back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE). During this time, the name was often given to daughters of noble families, as it conveyed a sense of abundance and prosperity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Hiroko can be found in the 10th-century Japanese literary classic, "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu. In this work, Hiroko is the name of a minor character, a young woman who serves as a attendant to one of the main characters.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Hiroko. One of the most famous was Hiroko Nagai (1925-1975), a Japanese writer and activist who wrote extensively about her experiences as a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Her memoir, "Hiroshima no Kodomo" (Children of Hiroshima), is considered a seminal work in the genre of atomic bomb literature.
Another notable Hiroko was Hiroko Matsumoto (1913-1998), a Japanese politician who served as a member of the House of Representatives for over three decades. She was a vocal advocate for women's rights and worked to promote gender equality in Japanese politics.
In the field of traditional Japanese arts, Hiroko Ogawa (1924-2008) was a renowned practitioner of the tea ceremony. She dedicated her life to preserving and promoting this ancient cultural tradition, and was designated as a Living National Treasure of Japan in 1994.
Hiroko Sho (1925-2018) was a Japanese actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her long career. She is particularly remembered for her role in the 1953 film "Tokyo Story" by acclaimed director Yasujiro Ozu.
Lastly, Hiroko Masuhara (1876-1963) was a pioneering Japanese educator and activist who founded one of the first schools for women in Japan. She fought tirelessly for the right of women to receive an education and played a significant role in advancing gender equality in Japanese society.
People
Hiroko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Hiroko as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with H
Other first names starting with H with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Hiroko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Hiroko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 93 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Hiroko going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,685,531 US residents.
Is Hiroko a common name?
We classify Hiroko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 328 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Hiroko most popular?
The single biggest year for Hiroko was 1919, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Hiroko is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Hiroko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,836 people with the name Hiroko, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,852 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Hiroko in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Hiroko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Hiroko appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,835 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Hiroko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Hiroko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.3%) and White (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Hiroko most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Hiroko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.1% (2,753 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Hiroko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Hiroko a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Hiroko in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Hiroko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Hiroko in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Hiroko can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Hiroko?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.