Akira

About Akira

Akira is a Japanese name that can mean “bright” or “clear,” depending on the characters used to write it. It has a substantial screen history: filmmaker Akira Kurosawa helped bring Japanese cinema to international audiences, while Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira became a landmark of animated science fiction. Both associations have made the name familiar well beyond Japan.

Meaning and pronunciation

Japanese Akira can be written with 明 or 昭, associated with brightness, or with 亮, associated with clarity. Other kanji also have the reading Akira. The meaning therefore follows the chosen Japanese spelling, while the same Roman letters can represent several written forms.

In hiragana the name is あきら, and in katakana it is アキラ. These scripts show its pronunciation. A useful approximation is ah-kee-rah, with three short syllables and a light Japanese r sound rather than a strongly pronounced English r.

Akira is used for both sexes. Its Japanese written forms include characters used particularly in masculine names and others used for more than one gender. In American records the spelling has recently been more frequent for girls, a different pattern from the masculine namesakes who dominate its best-known film associations.

Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa lived from 1910 to 1998. His given name was written 明. Rashomon, released in Japan in 1950, won the Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival in 1951, an important moment in the international recognition of Japanese filmmaking.

Rashomon presents conflicting accounts of a violent encounter, making the reliability of memory and testimony central to its structure. Kurosawa's films also ranged across contemporary life and historical drama: Ikiru appeared in 1952, followed by Seven Samurai in 1954.

Seven Samurai follows farmers who recruit warriors to protect their village from bandits. Its gathering of a group with different skills became an influential model for later action films. Kurosawa's period dramas combined large-scale movement and weather with close attention to the choices facing individual characters.

Otomo's Akira

Otomo directed the animated film Akira in 1988, adapting his own manga. The manga began publication in 1982 and continued until 1990, so its story was still unfolding when the film appeared.

The film imagines Neo-Tokyo, a rebuilt future city marked by political conflict, biker gangs, and military experiments on children. Its detailed urban imagery and explosive action helped introduce a wider international audience to Japanese animation.

The title gave Akira another cinematic identity, distinct from Kurosawa's personal name. One belongs to the history of live-action directing; the other became a recognizable title in manga, animation, and science fiction.

American usage

Akira's largest published annual female count in the United States was 424 births in 2008, when it ranked #707. In 2025, 257 girls received it, at #983, alongside 52 boys. The male series reached its highest annual count much earlier, with 54 births in 1927.

How popular is Akira?

In 2025, Akira ranked #983 among girls in the United States, with 257 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1973; its largest annual count was 424 in 2008. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.