Mitsuko
Feminine Japanese name composed of "mitsu" (light, beautiful) and "ko" (child).
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Mitsuko. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Mitsuko today is around 86 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Mitsuko births was 1919 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Mitsuko. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Mitsuko is about 86 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Mitsukos were born before 1950.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Mitsuko. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
1919
48 babies that year
Average age
86
years old
1981 SSA rank
#11,516
Tracked since 1911
Census
Mitsuko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,099 people with the first name Mitsuko, which placed it at #11,605 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
#11,605
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,099 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Mitsuko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mitsuko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander90.5% · 995
- Two or more races4.7% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 27
- White1.6% · 18
- Black or African American0.6% · 7
Popularity
Mitsuko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Mitsuko from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 300 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
Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Mitsukos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Mitsuko
Mitsuko is a feminine Japanese given name. It originated in Japan and has been in use for several centuries. The name is composed of two kanji characters: "mitsu" meaning "light" or "bright," and "ko" meaning "child."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Mitsuko date back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan. During this time, the name was occasionally mentioned in historical records and literary works, though it was not particularly common.
One of the earliest known individuals named Mitsuko was a court lady and poet who lived during the late 11th century. She was known for her contributions to the imperial anthologies of waka poetry.
In the Edo period (1603-1868), the name gained more popularity, particularly among the samurai class and nobility. Several notable women bore the name during this era, including Mitsuko Tokugawa, a daughter of the renowned Tokugawa shogunate.
During the Meiji era (1868-1912), the use of the name Mitsuko became more widespread across different social classes in Japan. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Mitsuko Aoyama (1874-1924), a pioneering Japanese physician and educator who founded the Aoyama Gakuin University.
Another notable Mitsuko was Mitsuko Shiraishi (1906-1993), a Japanese actress and singer who performed in numerous films and stage productions during the 20th century.
More recently, Mitsuko Uchida (born 1948) is a renowned Japanese classical pianist and conductor who has won numerous awards and performed with major orchestras worldwide.
While the name Mitsuko is of Japanese origin, it has also been adopted by individuals of Japanese descent in other parts of the world, particularly in areas with significant Japanese communities, such as Hawaii and California.
People
Mitsuko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Mitsuko 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
Mitsuko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Mitsuko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Mitsuko 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Mitsuko a common name?
We classify Mitsuko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 565 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Mitsuko most popular?
The single biggest year for Mitsuko was 1919, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Mitsuko is about 86 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Mitsuko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,099 people with the name Mitsuko, or 0.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,605 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 Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Mitsuko appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,100 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Mitsuko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Mitsuko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Mitsuko most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Mitsuko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (995 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 Mitsuko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Mitsuko a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko 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 Mitsuko?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.