How popular is the baby name Kotaro in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Kotaro.

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Popularity of the baby name Kotaro


Posts that mention the name Kotaro

More “Year of the Tiger” baby names

tiger

A couple of years ago, we talked about how the baby name Tiger saw higher usage in the U.S. in 1998, 2010, and 2022 — the three most recent Tiger years, according to the Chinese zodiac.

Since writing that post, I’ve found three more names that track with Tiger years. One of them saw higher usage during the early 20th century, while the other two (like “Tiger” itself) were more popular during the early 21st century.

Torao

The Japanese name Torao is based on the traditional Japanese word for “tiger,” tora.

Torao was the highest-debuting baby name of 1914. During the next Tiger year, 1926, the name saw peak usage.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Torao in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Torao

Here’s the data on Torao for those specific years:

  • In 1926, 27 U.S. baby boys were named Torao.
    • 19 [70%] were born in Hawaii, 6 in California
  • In 1914, 17 U.S. baby boys were named Torao.
    • 11 [65%] were born in Hawaii, 5 in California

The territory of Hawaii and the state of California both had relatively large numbers of Japanese-Americans at that time.

Other tora-names were also being bestowed during the early 1900s. In the Social Security Death Index, for instance, I found dozens of people — many born in 1902, 1914, or 1926 — with names like Toraichi, Torajiro, Torako, Toraki, Toraji, Torami, Torayo, Toragusu, Toramatsu, and Torashige.

Taiga

The pronunciation of the Japanese name Taiga (which can mean various things, depending upon the kanji being used the write the name) is similar to that of the English word tiger.

After debuting in the U.S. baby name data in 1997, Taiga saw an initial spike in usage in 1998. Twelve years later, it spiked again.

Graph of the usage of the baby name Taiga in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Taiga

Here’s the data on Taiga for those specific years:

  • In 2010, 26 U.S. baby boys were named Taiga.
    • 8 were born in California, 5 in New York
  • In 1998, 18 U.S. baby boys were named Taiga.

Though it didn’t spike a third time in 2022, the name did debut on the girls’ list that year.

(Incidentally, this name coincides with the Russian word taiga, which refers to a biome.)

Kotaro

The Japanese name Kotaro can be created from various combinations of kanji, and the first element is sometimes written with a character (ko) that means “tiger.”

Kotaro saw its highest-ever usage (15 baby boys) in the Tiger year 2010.

(I discovered this name while writing about Japan’s top baby names of 2022; names pronounced “Taiga” and “Kotaro” saw elevated usage in Japan that year.)


What are your thoughts on these names?

P.S. My post about Dragon Year baby names also had a part 2. :)

Sources: Earthly Branches – Wikipedia, Tiger (zodiac) – Wikipedia, SSDI (via FamilySearch), SSA

Image: Adapted from Tiger from Ranthanbore Sawai Madhopur Rajasthan India 12.10.2014 by Dibyendu Ash under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Top baby names in Japan, 2022

Flag of Japan
Flag of Japan

The island country of Japan, located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, welcomed 770,747 babies in 2022.

As far as I know, Japan has never released an official set of baby name rankings. But Japan’s top baby names of 2022 might be Himari and Ao, if two unofficial sets of rankings are to be believed.

The two sets of rankings were put out by a pair of Japanese companies that used their own data (i.e., the names of the newborns of their own customers/clients) to guess which baby names were the most popular in Japan last year.

  • Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company’s 2022 baby name rankings (in Japanese) account for 8,561 baby girls and 8,952 baby boys born in Japan from January to September, 2022.
  • Benesse Corporation’s 2022 baby name rankings (in Japanese) account for 148,103 baby girls and 149,152 baby boys born in Japan from January 1 to September 27, 2022.

These rankings aren’t exactly representative: the samples are self-selected, the last quarter of the year is entirely omitted, etc. Nevertheless, they’re fun to check out. And I think it’s significant that they agree on the #1 girl name.

Because both companies rank names as they’re written — and each of these written forms tends to have multiple pronunciations — I had to create images of the rankings (because my blogging software can’t handle kanji/kana characters). So, in the images below, the written forms are on the left, and their most common readings(s) are on the right.


Let’s start with Meiji Yasuda’s list.

Girl Names (Meiji)

Top girl names in Japan in 2022, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

(Himari, Hinata, Hina; Rin; Uta; Hina, Haruna; Yuina, Yuna; An, Anzu; Mio, Rei; Yua; Mei; Riko; Sakura; Ema.)

Boy Names (Meiji)

Top boy names in Japan in 2022, according to Meiji Yasuda Life

(Aoi, So, Ao; Nagi, Nagisa; Ren; Haruto, Hinato; Minato; Soma, Fuma; Ao, Aoi; Itsuki, Tatsuki; Yamato; Yuma, Haruma; Dan, Haru.)


And now, Benesse.

Girl Names (Benesse)

Top girl names in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

(Himari, Rin, Yuina, Mei, Uta, Hina, Aoi, Riko, Tsumugi, Ema.)

Boy Names (Benesse)

Top boy names in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

(Ao, Haruto, Aoi, Asahi, Ren, Minato, Yuito, Yuma, Hinata, Itsuki.)

Benesse also noted that several tiger-related boy names saw higher usage in 2022, which was a Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese zodiac.

Tiger-related boy names that saw higher usage in Japan in 2022, according to Benesse

Taiga sounds like the English word “tiger,” while Kotaro can include the kanji character that means “tiger.”

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Japan (public domain)

[Latest update: Dec. 2023]