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Hikaru

#10,057 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Light or brightness

Hikaru has been given to 187 babies in the U.S. since 1992. In 2025 it ranked #10,057 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 14 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 90% boys, 10% girls all-time.

Babies named Hikaru, 2025

1 in 474,000

Hikaru over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Hikaru over time

In 2025, Hikaru went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19922025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Hikaru: meaning, origin, and history

Light or brightness

Japanese

What Hikaru means

Hikaru means “light or brightness”.

Origin, language, and formation

Hikaru is used in English. Its origins include Japanese.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 169 boys were recorded with the name Hikaru between 1992 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 14 in 2006; its best national rank was #5,886 in 2006.

Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,937 in 2015 to #10,057 in 2025.

In the United States, 18 girls were recorded with the name Hikaru between 1992 and 2002. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1992; its best national rank was #10,880 in 1992.

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 Hikaru?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#10,057
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Hikaru sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hikaru. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hikarus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hikaru was born before 2005 — so the typical Hikaru is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
40.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
72.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
169
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 40.8% of all recorded uses (69).

Is Hikaru 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
−120
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
50.0%
Peak was 2006 (14)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
38.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,886
2006

Spellings of Hikaru

Hikaru is not the most common spelling — Hilary is, with 92.9% against Hikaru's 7.1%.

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 Hikaru is used

Across 1910–2025, Hikaru was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,905,450 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Hikaru has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hikaru around the world

Where Hikaru 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.

  • South Australia
    2008–2008
    #726
    in 2008

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Hikaru by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,057
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#5,886
2006
Peak year
2006
14 that year
First recorded
1992
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
169
Count in 2025
7

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#10,880
1992
Peak year
1992
7 that year
First recorded
1992
Last recorded
2002
All-time count
18
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Hikaru

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

HikeemWataruHaruMasaruSubaruAmaruHikariMasaharuYoshiharuMaruOmaruToshiharuNaruHikmatullah

Sibling names for Hikaru

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 Hikaru

Top names of 2006, Hikaru's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2006Boys' names starting with HJapanese Boy Names