Masaru

Boys' name

Victory or excellence

Masaru has been given to 447 babies in the U.S. since 1912. 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 1917, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Masaru, 1992

1 in 768,000

Masaru over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Masaru: meaning, origin, and history

Victory or excellence

Japanese

What Masaru means

Masaru means “victory or excellence”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Masaru is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /mä.sä.ɾɯᵝ/ for Masaru.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Japanese Masaru (Masaru), from まさる, from various (優/勝/将/將/賢/真申).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Masaru (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Masaru is used in English. Its origins include Japanese.

Masaru comes through Japanese Masaru.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 447 boys were recorded with the name Masaru between 1912 and 1992. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1917; its best national rank was #1,232 in 1917.

How common is Masaru?

Masaru had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1992, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1992: 1 in 768,000; 5 of 3,839,369 births
Among boys only: 1 in 399,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1992: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 532,251 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Masaru 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 1992 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 532,251 children born in 1992 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Masaru. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Masarus were born

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

Median birth year: 1923; About 102 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 54.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 1.1%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 54.8% of all recorded uses (245).

Is Masaru 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 1917 (31)
Years since peak: 108; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 20.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,232; 1917

Spellings of Masaru

Masaru is not the most common spelling — Makari is, with 35.4% against Masaru's 8.7%.

Makari35.4%1,815
Masao19.9%1,018
Amaru19.2%984
Masai16.8%864
Masaru8.7%447

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 Masaru is used

Across 1910–2025, Masaru was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 2,439 boys, against 1 in 48,778 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in 100,000).

141 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Hawaii1 in 2,439
2California1 in 100,000

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

Masaru around the world

Where Masaru 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
1997–1997
#543
in 1997

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

Masaru by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,232; 1917
Peak year: 1917; 31 that year
First recorded: 1912
Last recorded: 1992
All-time count: 447
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Masaru

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

Master Masson Maston Masiah Massai Masaharu Masud Masato Masai Masami Masaki Masiyah Massiah Masyn Mase Hikaru Masih Masin Masten Masen Massie Masani Amaru Masir

Sibling names for Masaru

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

Albina Nelle Orpha Antonette Harriette Winnifred Johnie Dovie

For a brother

Regis Rosario Lyman Winfield Dorsey Granville Abe Isadore

Explore around Masaru

Top names of 1917, Masaru's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1917 Boys' names starting with M Japanese Boy Names Japanese Names