Hiro
Masculine · “broad”
Hiro is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 912 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Hiro is a Japanese element rather than a whole name in the traditional sense — it opens Hiroshi, Hiroto and Hiroki, and it means broad. Which broad depends on the character, and Japanese has several to choose from.
How old is the name Hiro?
Hiro first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Hiro is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 900 people named Hiro are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hiro most popular?
Hiro peaked in 2016, reaching #1903 nationally. Today it ranks #2884, 981 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Hiro
Japanese men's names are frequently built by combining an element like hiro with a second one — Hiroshi, Hiroto, Hirokazu, Hiroyuki — and hiro is among the most productive of them. Standing alone it functions as a short form and, increasingly, as a full given name. Its American record is recent and thin, and it has been helped along by television, where the name has appeared on Japanese and Japanese-American characters. Six letters and two open syllables make it one of the easier Japanese names for English speakers.
Meaningscholars disagree
broad, wide, generous
Several kanji are read hiro and they differ. 広 is broad or spacious; 寛 is generous or tolerant; 浩 is vast, as of water; 弘 is wide in the sense of far-reaching. Each gives a slightly different name, and the sound alone cannot say which. All of them are complimentary and all sit in the same general area of meaning, which is unusual — most Japanese homophones scatter further.
Pronouncing Hiro
HEE-roh
Two syllables with even weight in Japanese and no English-style stress. American English says HEE-roh, which is close, though it also sounds exactly like the English word hero — a coincidence the name cannot escape.
Nicknames for Hiro
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
- 1923
- Most boys named
- 201677 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1903reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −39.4%43 in 2025, from 71
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.
Hiro in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 広 in Japanese — transliteration
- 寛 in Japanese — transliteration
- Hiroshi in Japanese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Hiros among us
people named Hiro are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 39,723 born in 2025 was named Hiro
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 Fahad test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Hiro's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Fahad climbed just as high around 1999, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Fahad's path sketches the road Hiro is walking now.
Hiro 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 Hiro is headed
Hiro should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Hiro beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Hiro in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, entirely phonetic, and said correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- A genuine and productive Japanese name element rather than a borrowed sound.
- Two open syllables that pair well with almost any surname.
- In American English it is a homophone for hero, and the joke will be made.
- Its meaning depends on the kanji, so no single gloss is complete without them.
- Standing alone it reads as a short form to Japanese speakers, who expect a second element.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Hiro
Masculine · #2884 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Hiros are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Hiro are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hiro in 2025?
- Hiro ranks #2884 among US boy names in 2025, with 43 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Hiro?
- About 1 in every 39,723 US boys born in 2025 was named Hiro — 43 in all.
- Will my child share the name Hiro with classmates?
- Hiro will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Hiro
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Blu#2884 · Rafi#2884 · Minh#2884 · Shaquille#2884 · Arnav#2884 · Jayven#2884 · Tytus#2884 · Kamal#2884
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hiro? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hiro and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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