Shigeko

Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Shigeko has been given to 325 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 1926, with 27 recorded.

Babies named Shigeko, 1936

1 in 346,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shigeko: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Shigeko means

Shigeko 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 flourishing, luxuriant, become, child.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Shigeko is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ɕi.ɡe̞.ko̞/ for Shigeko.

Origin, language, and formation

Shigeko is used in English, French and Portuguese. Its origins include Japanese.

Shigeko comes through Japanese しげこ.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Shigeko is pronounced /ʃi.ɡe.ko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 325 girls were recorded with the name Shigeko between 1909 and 1936. Its highest annual count was 27 in 1926; its best national rank was #1,615 in 1926.

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 Shigeko?

Shigeko had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1936, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1936: 1 in 346,000; 6 of 2,077,561 births
Among girls only: 1 in 173,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1936: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 240,010 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Shigeko 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 1936 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 240,010 children born in 1936 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shigeko. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shigekos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shigeko was born before 1924 — so the typical Shigeko is around 101 today.

Median birth year: 1924; About 101 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 59.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 96.3%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 59.7% of all recorded uses (194).

Is Shigeko 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 1926 (27)
Years since peak: 99; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 34.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,615; 1926

Spellings of Shigeko

Shigeko is not the most common spelling — Shizuko is, with 65.6% against Shigeko's 34.4%.

Shizuko65.6%620
Shigeko34.4%325

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 Shigeko is used

Across 1910–2025, Shigeko was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 2,632 girls, against 1 in 69,221 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in —).

038 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Hawaii1 in 2,632
2California1 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. Shigeko has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shigeko 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: #1,615; 1926
Peak year: 1926; 27 that year
First recorded: 1909
Last recorded: 1936
All-time count: 325
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Shigeko

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

Shirel Shiori Shianna Shirell Shireen Shirlyn Shimeka Shifa Shivika Shirely Shirin Shine Shivali Shilah Shivanya Shilynn Shiri Shimika Shizuko Shinika Shinita Shiara Shivya Shiza

Sibling names for Shigeko

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

Berta Delma Allene Darline Concepcion Easter Leatrice Pearline

For a brother

Jewel Napoleon Raymon Domenick Hosea Rollin Wilburn Wilford

Explore around Shigeko

Top names of 1926, Shigeko's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1926 Girls' names starting with S