Emiko
Feminine · “blessed”
Emiko is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,850 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Emiko is Japanese and built the way a great many Japanese women's names are built: two meaning elements and then ko, the child. The sound is fixed; what the name means depends entirely on which characters a family chose.
How old is the name Emiko?
Emiko first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Emiko alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 1,400 people named Emiko are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Emiko most popular?
Emiko peaked in 1923, reaching #1283 nationally. Today it ranks #2822, 1,539 places below that high. See the whole 1923 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Emiko
Japanese given names for women were formed with -ko for well over a thousand years, and the two syllables in front of it were chosen for their characters as much as for their sound — a name is read and seen at once in a way English names are not. Emiko has a long American record because Japanese emigration to Hawaii and the West Coast began in the nineteenth century, and it stayed in use in Japanese-American families through a period when a Japanese name was not a light thing to carry. In Japan the -ko ending has gone quiet among younger parents, so the name reads as belonging to an earlier generation there.
Meaningscholars disagree
blessed, beautiful child — in its most common writing
The usual kanji are 恵美子: e, blessing or favor; mi, beauty; ko, child. Other writings exist and give other senses — 笑子, with a character for smiling, among them. The -ko ending is a very old and standard way of forming a woman's name in Japanese; it means child and carries no diminutive sense. Which Emiko a person is depends on her family register rather than on the sound.
Pronouncing Emiko
EH-mee-koh
Three even beats in Japanese, with all vowels pure and no English-style stress. American English usually says eh-MEE-koh, adding a stress the Japanese does not have, which is close enough to pass.
Nicknames for Emiko
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 202361 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1283reached in 1923
- Change vs 2023
- −1.6%60 in 2025, from 61
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Emiko in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 恵美子 in Japanese — transliteration
- 笑子 in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Hawaii.
Emikos among us
people named Emiko are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 26,788 born in 2025 was named Emiko
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Eufemia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Emiko's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eufemia climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eufemia's path sketches the road Emiko is walking now.
Emiko sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Emiko is headed
Emiko should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Emiko beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Emiko in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Sits comfortably beside Emily and Emma in an English-speaking room while being a genuine Japanese name.
- Emi is a ready short form and a complete name in its own right.
- Six letters in Roman spelling, entirely phonetic, and easy for English speakers.
- Its meaning is not fixed by the sound; without the kanji, any single gloss is the most likely one rather than the certain one.
- The -ko ending reads as an older generation's name in Japan today.
- English speakers add a stress accent Japanese does not use, so the rhythm changes on crossing.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Emiko
Feminine · #2822 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Emikos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Emiko are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Emiko in 2025?
- Emiko ranks #2822 among US girl names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Emiko?
- About 1 in every 26,788 US girls born in 2025 was named Emiko — 60 in all.
- Will my child share the name Emiko with classmates?
- Emiko will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Emiko
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lya#2822 · Roxanna#2822 · Kensington#2822 · Maybelle#2822 · Hayat#2822 · Seven#2822 · Livie#2822 · Haniya#2822
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Emiko? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Emiko and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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