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Hanako

#9,685 in 2025Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Hanako has been given to 397 babies in the U.S. since 1915. In 2025 it ranked #9,685 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Hanako, 2025

1 in 332,000

Hanako over time, 1880–2025

Girls
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hanako: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Hanako means

Hanako is documented with more than one possible Japanese character combination. The Latin-letter spelling records a pronunciation; it does not specify one unique kanji spelling or one universal meaning.

Possible character meanings include flower, child.

Origin, language, and formation

Hanako is used in English, French, Paiwan, Puyuma, Rukai, Tagalog and Taroko. Its origins include Japanese.

Hanako comes through Japanese はなこ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Hanako is pronounced /a.na.ko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 397 girls were recorded with the name Hanako between 1915 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1921; its best national rank was #2,076 in 1921.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #15,968 in 2020 to #9,685 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Hanako?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 332,000
10 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 161,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#9,685
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
229,791 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hanako sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hanako. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hanakos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hanako was born before 1932 — so the typical Hanako is around 93 today.

Median birth year
1932
About 93 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
33.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
28.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
191
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 33.8% of all recorded uses (134).

Is Hanako rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+123
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+6,283
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
52.6%
Peak was 1921 (19)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,076
1921

Spellings of Hanako

Hanako is not the most common spelling — Hana is, with 66.4% against Hanako's 2.0%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Hanako is used

Across 1910–2025, Hanako was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 3,571 girls, against 1 in 104,270 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in —).

028 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 3,571
  2. 2California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Hanako has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hanako around the world

Where Hanako ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2013
    #5,742
    in 2013
  • France
    2006–2013
    #8,014
    in 2013
  • South Australia
    1986–1986
    #667
    in 1986

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Hanako by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#9,685
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 6,283
Best rank ever
#2,076
1921
Peak year
1921
19 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
397
Count in 2025
10

Names similar to Hanako

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

HannanHanifaHanleyHanniaHanaaHaniyahHaniyaHanaleiHaneenHanvikaHannieHannyHanneHaniaHanaeHaninHanniHanyaHaniHanaanHanadiHaniahHanahHanan

Sibling names for Hanako

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Hanako

Top names of 1921, Hanako's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1921Girls' names starting with H