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Sumiko

Girls' name

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Sumiko has been given to 618 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 1927, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Sumiko, 2011

1 in 732,000

Sumiko over time, 1880–2025

Girls
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sumiko: meaning, origin, and history

Japanese name; meaning depends on kanji

Japanese

What Sumiko means

Sumiko 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 clear, child.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Sumiko is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /sɨᵝ.mi.ko̞/ for Sumiko.

Origin, language, and formation

Sumiko is used in English, French and Tagalog. Its origins include Japanese.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Sumiko is pronounced /su.mi.ko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 618 girls were recorded with the name Sumiko between 1912 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1927; its best national rank was #1,275 in 1927.

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 Sumiko?

Sumiko had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2011, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2011
1 in 732,000
5 of 3,657,935 births
Among girls only
1 in 352,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2011
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
507,099 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Sumiko 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 2011 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 507,099 children born in 2011 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sumiko. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sumikos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sumiko was born before 1927 — so the typical Sumiko is around 98 today.

Median birth year
1927
About 98 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
47.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
6.0%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
112
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 47.9% of all recorded uses (296).

Is Sumiko 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 1927 (39)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
74.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,275
1927

Spellings of Sumiko

Sumiko is not the most common spelling — Tamiko is, with 29.1% against Sumiko's 6.0%.

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 Sumiko is used

Across 1910–2025, Sumiko was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 2,128 girls, against 1 in 71,710 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

047 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 2,128
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Texas1 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. Sumiko has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Sumiko 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
#1,275
1927
Peak year
1927
39 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
618
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Sumiko

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

SumaiyaSumeyaSumayahSummitSumnerSumayyaSumayaSumerSummarSumayyahNamikoYumikoMarikoSumaiyahAkikoKimikoMichikoSumiKeikoFumikoYurikoYukikoMikoTomiko

Sibling names for Sumiko

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

Explore around Sumiko

Top names of 1927, Sumiko's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1927Girls' names starting with S