Minako

Girls' name

From Japanese みなこ; literal meaning unconfirmed

Minako has been given to 13 babies in the U.S. since 2002. 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 2002, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Minako, 2017

1 in 596,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Minako: meaning, origin, and history

From Japanese みなこ; literal meaning unconfirmed

Japanese

What Minako means

Minako is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Minako is used in English and Tagalog. Its origins include Japanese.

Minako comes through Japanese みなこ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Tagalog, Minako is pronounced /ˈminako/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13 girls were recorded with the name Minako between 2002 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2002; its best national rank was #13,166 in 2002.

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 Minako?

Minako had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2017, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2017: 1 in 596,000; 6 of 3,577,106 births
Among girls only: 1 in 288,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2017: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 413,245 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Minako 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 2017 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 413,245 children born in 2017 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Minako. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Minakos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Minako was born before 2002 — so the typical Minako is around 23 today.

Median birth year: 2002; About 23 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 53.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 13; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 53.8% of all recorded uses (7).

Is Minako 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 2002 (7)
Years since peak: 23; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #13,166; 2002

Spellings of Minako

Minako is not the most common spelling — Mina is, with 90.2% against Minako's 0.06%.

Mina90.2%19,267
Masako3.8%821
Miyoko3.0%636
Miko2.9%613
Minako0.06%13

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.

Minako 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: #13,166; 2002
Peak year: 2002; 7 that year
First recorded: 2002
Last recorded: 2017
All-time count: 13
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Minako

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

Minden Minky Minika Minnow Minori Minday Minica Minaya Minseo Minor Minya Minique Minerba Minesha Mintha Mineko Minnia Minely Minhthu Minji Minne Minhanh Miniyah Miniya

Sibling names for Minako

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

Iyana Alize Lisbeth Vanesa Shakira Kaiya Shreya Anastacia

For a brother

Dallin Zakary Keyon Kelton Donavan Alexandre Jaylon Jaylin

Explore around Minako

Top names of 2002, Minako's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2002 Girls' names starting with M