Tanaka
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Tanaka has been given to 139 babies in the U.S. since 1972. 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 1978, with 16 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 93% girls, 7% boys all-time.
Babies named Tanaka, 2004
1 in 764,000
Tanaka 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Tanaka over time
In 2005, Tanaka 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 Tanaka?
Tanaka had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2004, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2004
- 1 in 764,000
- 5 of 3,820,181 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 367,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2004
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 529,591 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Tanaka sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2004 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 529,591 children born in 2004 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tanaka. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Tanakas were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Tanaka was born before 1977 — so the typical Tanaka is around 48 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1970s
- 74.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 25.6%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 129
- People you could plausibly meet
1970s — 74.4% of all recorded uses (96).
Is Tanaka 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 1978 (16)
- Years since peak
- 47
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 33.3% average annual change
Spellings of Tanaka
Tanaka is not the most common spelling — Tamara is, with 30.6% against Tanaka's 0.03%.
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.
Tanaka around the world
Where Tanaka 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 & Wales2001–2023#3,599in 2023
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.
Tanaka by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Tanaka
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Tanaka
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.