Hisako

Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Hisako has been given to 368 babies in the U.S. since 1909. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1923, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Hisako, 1938

1 in 443,000

Hisako over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Hisako: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Hisako means

Hisako 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 long time, long time ago, long life, lifespan, child.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Hisako is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /çi.sä.ko̞/ for Hisako.

Origin, language, and formation

Hisako is used in English and French. Its origins include Japanese.

Hisako comes through Japanese ひさこ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Hisako is pronounced /i.sa.ko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 368 girls were recorded with the name Hisako between 1909 and 1938. Its highest annual count was 30 in 1923; its best national rank was #1,502 in 1923.

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 Hisako?

Hisako had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1938, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1938: 1 in 443,000; 5 of 2,212,569 births
Among girls only: 1 in 221,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1938: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 306,728 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Hisako 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 1938 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 306,728 children born in 1938 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Hisako. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Hisakos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Hisako was born before 1923 — so the typical Hisako is around 102 today.

Median birth year: 1923; About 102 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 57.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 94.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 57.9% of all recorded uses (213).

Is Hisako 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: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1923 (30)
Years since peak: 102; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 23.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,502; 1923

Spellings of Hisako

Hisako is not the most common spelling — Masako is, with 69.0% against Hisako's 31.0%.

Masako69.0%821
Hisako31.0%368

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 Hisako is used

Across 1910–2025, Hisako was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 3,571 girls, against 1 in 62,168 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in 100,000).

128 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Hawaii1 in 3,571
2California1 in 100,000

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. Hisako has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Hisako by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,502; 1923
Peak year: 1923; 30 that year
First recorded: 1909
Last recorded: 1938
All-time count: 368
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Hisako

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

Hanako Sadako Hisayo Historia Fusako Miyako Masako Takako Ayako Hisae Asako Hisaye Misako Nanako Tsuyako Mako Kanako Hinako Sumako Risako Hisela Minako Rikako Kimako

Sibling names for Hisako

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

For a sister

Filomena Novella Aletha Dorcas Vernice Albertha Bethel Rosina

For a brother

Elwin Rubin Bertram Alvis Eldridge Trinidad Walton Elden

Explore around Hisako

Top names of 1923, Hisako's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1923 Girls' names starting with H