Shunsuke
A Japanese masculine name meaning "talented assistance" or "talented helper".
Name Census estimates that about 73 living Americans carry the first name Shunsuke. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shunsuke today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shunsuke births was 1991 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shunsuke. 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 Shunsuke. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
73
~ 1 in 4,695,265 Americans
Peak year
1991
12 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2002 SSA rank
#10,470
Tracked since 1987
Popularity
Shunsuke: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shunsuke from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 39 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shunsuke remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shunsuke 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 Shunsuke 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 Shunsuke
Shunsuke is a masculine Japanese given name with origins dating back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan. The name is formed from two kanji characters - "shun" meaning "talented" or "virtuous," and "suke" meaning "assist" or "help." Together, the name can be interpreted as "one who assists with virtue" or "talented helper."
In ancient Japan, names held great significance and were often chosen to reflect desirable qualities or aspirations for the child. The name Shunsuke was likely bestowed upon boys with the hope that they would grow to be virtuous and helpful individuals.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Shunsuke can be found in the historical text "Azuma Kagami" (The Mirror of the East), which chronicled the lives of the Kamakura shogunate leaders in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The text mentions a samurai named Shunsuke who served under the famous shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shunsuke. In the 17th century, Shunsuke Hayashi (1628-1688) was a prominent Confucian scholar and advisor to the Tokugawa shogunate. His influential teachings and writings on ethics and government policies left a lasting impact on Japanese society.
Another noteworthy Shunsuke was the 19th-century educator and calligrapher, Shunsuke Koyama (1843-1927). He is credited with establishing one of the first modern-style elementary schools in Japan and promoting the study of calligraphy as an art form.
In the realm of literature, Shunsuke Natsume (1867-1916) was a renowned novelist and short story writer, known for his realistic depictions of rural life in Japan. His works, such as "Botchan" and "Kokoro," are considered classics of Japanese literature.
More recently, Shunsuke Nakamura (1949-) is a renowned Japanese physicist and Nobel Laureate. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 for his invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which paved the way for bright and energy-saving white light sources.
While these are just a few examples, the name Shunsuke has been carried by many influential individuals throughout Japanese history, reflecting its enduring cultural significance and the aspirations associated with its meaning.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Shunsuke
People
Shunsuke + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shunsuke 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
Shunsuke: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shunsuke?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 73 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shunsuke 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 4,695,265 US residents.
Is Shunsuke a common name?
We classify Shunsuke as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 75 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shunsuke most popular?
The single biggest year for Shunsuke was 1991, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shunsuke is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shunsuke a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shunsuke 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.