Shingo
A Japanese masculine name formed from 'shin' meaning "truth, spirit" and 'go' meaning "protect".
Name Census estimates that about 25 living Americans carry the first name Shingo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shingo today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shingo births was 1981 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shingo. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shingo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
25
~ 1 in 13,710,174 Americans
Peak year
1981
6 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2004 SSA rank
#12,942
Tracked since 1925
Popularity
Shingo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shingo from the 1920s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Shingo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shingo 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 Shingo 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 Shingo
The name Shingo is of Japanese origin, derived from the Japanese words "shin" meaning "truth" or "faith," and "go" meaning "protector" or "guardian." It is a masculine name that gained popularity in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868).
Shingo has its roots in Shintoism, the indigenous religion of Japan. In Shinto mythology, the name is associated with the concept of protecting and upholding the truth and the sacred values of the faith. It was often given to boys with the hope that they would grow up to be virtuous and truthful individuals, upholding the principles of honor and integrity.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shingo can be traced back to the 8th century CE, when it appeared in historical records of noble Japanese families. During the Heian period (794-1185), the name was particularly popular among the samurai class, who valued the qualities of truthfulness, loyalty, and bravery in battle.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Shingo was Shingo Tokugawa (1569-1620), a famous daimyo (feudal lord) and military commander during the Sengoku period. He played a crucial role in the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the unification of Japan under the rule of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Another prominent figure was Shingo Yamaguchi (1909-1994), a Japanese naval officer who served in World War II. He is best known for his role in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, where he commanded the Japanese battleship Yamato, one of the largest and most powerful battleships ever built.
In the field of literature, Shingo Sato (1904-1983) was a renowned Japanese novelist and playwright. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Japanese literature and is best known for his novel "Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita" (Under the Full Blooms in the Cherry Blossom Forest), which explores the themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
Shingo Kunieda (born 1984) is a modern-day figure who has achieved international recognition as a professional wheelchair tennis player. He has won multiple Grand Slam titles and has been ranked as the world's number one player in the quad singles division for several years.
Shingo Natsume (1932-2018) was a renowned Japanese film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his work in the Japanese New Wave cinema movement of the 1960s and for his films that explored social and political themes, such as "Kuroi Ame" (Black Rain), which dealt with the aftermath of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
People
Shingo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shingo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shingo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shingo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shingo 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 13,710,174 US residents.
Is Shingo a common name?
We classify Shingo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 43.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 31 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shingo most popular?
The single biggest year for Shingo was 1981, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shingo is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shingo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shingo 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.
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.