Neko
#3,423 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Neko has been given to 1,248 babies in the U.S. since 1969. In 2025 it ranked #3,423 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 55 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 80% boys, 20% girls all-time.
Babies named Neko, 2025
1 in 97,500
Neko over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Neko over time
In 2025, Neko went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
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.
How common is Neko?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 97,500
- 34 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 50,200
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #3,423
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 67,586 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Neko sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 67,586 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Neko. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Nekos were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Neko was born before 2011 — so the typical Neko is around 14 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 32.7% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 77.1%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 1,001
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 32.7% of all recorded uses (327).
Is Neko 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
- +618
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −241
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- +233
- Places climbed
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 1.13×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 61.8%
- Peak was 2021 (55)
- Years since peak
- 4
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 25.0% average annual change
Spellings of Neko
Neko is not the most common spelling — Leo is, with 48.8% against Neko's 0.19%.
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 Neko is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Neko was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 809,962 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 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. Neko has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Neko is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Neko was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 3,202,555 across all states with data.
Most concentrated
- 1California1 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. Neko has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Neko around the world
Where Neko 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 & Wales2009–2023#3,113in 2023
- Canada2016–2021#2,989in 2021
- South Australia2010–2010#754in 2010
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Neko by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Neko
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Neko
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.