Shiro
Shiro is a masculine Japanese name meaning "castle" or "white".
Name Census estimates that about 23 living Americans carry the first name Shiro. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shiro today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shiro births was 1922 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shiro. 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 Shiro. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
23
~ 1 in 14,902,363 Americans
Peak year
1922
20 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,868
Tracked since 1915
Popularity
Shiro: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shiro from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 120 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
Shiro 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 Shiro during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shiros live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shiro
The name Shiro has its origins in Japanese culture, deriving from the Japanese word "shiro," which means "white" or "castle." This name has been in use for centuries, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the Heian period (794-1185) in Japan.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Shiro was Shiro Hashiba, a renowned Japanese samurai warrior who lived during the Sengoku period (1467-1615). He was a loyal retainer of the powerful Tokugawa clan and played a crucial role in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which solidified the Tokugawa Shogunate's control over Japan.
In the realm of literature, Shiro Natsume (1867-1916) was a prominent Japanese novelist and short story writer. His works, such as "Kokoro" and "Botchan," explored themes of human nature, social norms, and the complexities of modern Japanese society. Natsume is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Japanese literature.
Another notable figure with the name Shiro was Shiro Ishii (1892-1959), a Japanese microbiologist and lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. During World War II, he oversaw the infamous Unit 731, a covert biological and chemical warfare research unit that conducted horrific human experiments on prisoners of war and civilians. Ishii's actions were considered war crimes, but he was granted immunity by the United States in exchange for sharing his research data.
In the world of sports, Shiro Hashizume (1910-1995) was a Japanese wrestler who competed in the 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics. He won a silver medal in the middleweight category at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, becoming one of the first Japanese athletes to medal in wrestling at the Olympic Games.
Lastly, Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991) was a renowned Japanese furniture and product designer. He is best known for his innovative use of materials like mesh, acrylic, and glass, as well as his playful and minimalist designs. Kuramata's works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and are held in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Shiro, which carries a rich cultural heritage and linguistic significance in Japanese tradition.
People
Shiro + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shiro 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
Shiro: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shiro?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shiro 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 14,902,363 US residents.
Is Shiro a common name?
We classify Shiro as "Very Rare". It ranks above 42.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 208 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shiro most popular?
The single biggest year for Shiro was 1922, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shiro is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shiro a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shiro 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.