Meiko
A feminine Japanese name meaning "child of the beautiful blessing".
Name Census estimates that about 239 living Americans carry the first name Meiko. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Meiko today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Meiko births was 2021 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Meiko. 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.
People living today
239
~ 1 in 1,434,119 Americans
Peak year
2021
23 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,517
Tracked since 1971
Census
Meiko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 406 people with the first name Meiko, which placed it at #23,937 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
#23,937
National first-name rank
People counted
406
406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
34.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Meiko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meiko is Black at 34.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (32.8%) and Two or More Races (14.8%). 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 Meiko 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 Meiko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American34.2% · 139
- Asian and Pacific Islander32.8% · 133
- Two or more races14.8% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino9.1% · 37
- White8.1% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Meiko
Meiko is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 247 total registrations, 135 (54.7%) were male and 112 (45.3%) were female.
Meiko as a male name
- Ranked #10,517 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (18 births)
Meiko as a female name
- Ranked #16,802 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1972 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Meiko on both sides of the split. Of the 409 people counted with this name, 129 were male (31.5%) and 280 were female (68.5%).
Popularity
Meiko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Meiko from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 72 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Meiko 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 Meiko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Meiko
The given name Meiko is of Japanese origin and can be traced back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan. It is derived from the Japanese words "mei", meaning "beautiful" or "bright", and "ko", a common suffix used in Japanese names to denote a child or a diminutive form.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Meiko can be found in the 11th century literary classic, "The Tale of Genji", written by the renowned Japanese novelist Murasaki Shikibu. In this work, Meiko is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a lady-in-waiting to one of the protagonists.
Throughout Japanese history, several notable individuals have borne the name Meiko. One such figure was Meiko Nishizawa (1874-1963), a pioneering Japanese feminist and educator who advocated for women's rights and established several educational institutions for women in the early 20th century.
Another prominent Meiko was Meiko Kaji (1924-2022), a Japanese actress and singer who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s. She appeared in numerous films and television shows, and her melodious voice captivated audiences across Japan.
In the realm of traditional Japanese arts, Meiko Inoue (born 1986) is a renowned Nihon Buyo (Japanese classical dance) performer and instructor. She has received numerous accolades for her graceful and skilled performances, showcasing the beauty of this ancient art form.
Meiko Harada (born 1979) is a former professional tennis player from Japan who achieved notable success on the international stage. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 18 in the world and won three singles titles on the WTA Tour.
While the name Meiko has its roots in Japanese culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among those with an appreciation for Japanese aesthetics and traditions.
People
Meiko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Meiko as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Meiko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Meiko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 239 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Meiko 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 1,434,119 US residents.
Is Meiko a common name?
We classify Meiko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 247 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Meiko most popular?
The single biggest year for Meiko was 2021, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Meiko is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Meiko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 406 people with the name Meiko, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,937 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 Meiko 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 Meiko?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Meiko on both sides of the split. Of the 409 people counted with this name, 129 were male (31.5%) and 280 were female (68.5%). 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 Meiko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Meiko is Black at 34.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (32.8%) and Two or More Races (14.8%). 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 Meiko most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Meiko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.2% (139 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 Meiko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Meiko a male name?
Yes, 54.7% of people registered as Meiko in the SSA data are male. 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 Meiko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Meiko 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 Meiko 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 named Meiko?
Find out how many people have the name Meiko on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.