Mitsuko
Feminine · “child of light”
Mitsuko is a Japanese girl's name of three soft syllables, most often written with characters meaning light and child. It came to America with Japanese families, and in Paris it became the name of one of the most famous perfumes ever made.
How old is the name Mitsuko?
Mitsuko first appears in US birth records in 1911 — 114 years ago. The typical Mitsuko alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Mitsuko are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Mitsuko most popular?
Mitsuko peaked in 1919, reaching #1042 nationally. See the whole 1919 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From mitsu + ko to Mitsuko
The story of Mitsuko
Japanese families brought Mitsuko to Hawaii and the West Coast. In France, the perfumer Jacques Guerlain named a new scent Mitsouko after the heroine of Claude Farrère's novel La Bataille, a Japanese admiral's wife who falls in love with a British officer during the Russo-Japanese War, and the perfume is still made. The best-known bearer today is Mitsuko Uchida, the Japanese-born pianist who settled in London and became one of the great interpreters of Mozart and Schubert.
Meaningscholars disagree
child of light, in one common writing
Mitsuko is usually written with mitsu, light, and ko, child, but other characters with the same sounds, such as full or three, are also used. The spoken name alone does not show which.
How the name formed
- mitsu + ko
- Mitsuko
Related forms: Mitsuko · Mitsouko
Pronouncing Mitsuko
MEET-soo-koh
Japanese gives the three syllables nearly equal weight, and the u in the middle is often almost silent: MEETS-koh.
Nicknames for Mitsuko
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
- 1911
- Most girls named
- 191948 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1042reached in 1919
- Change vs 1943
- 0.0%5 in 1981, from 5
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.
Mitsuko in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Mitsuko in Japanese — same name
- Mitsouko in French — transliteration
Mitsukos among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Mitsuko are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Mitsuko sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Its usual meaning, child of light, is lovely and clear.
- It connects to a celebrated pianist and a famous perfume.
- It is short to write and rare in America.
- English speakers will stress the middle syllable, mit-SOO-ko, which sounds unnatural in Japanese.
- The meaning depends on the characters, so a family should decide which it intends.
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What they receive
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Mitsuko
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Mitsukos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Mitsuko are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Mitsuko in 2025?
- Mitsuko is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Mitsuko with classmates?
- Mitsuko will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More M names
The most-given names starting with M, all years combined.
Mary#125 · Margaret#112 · Michelle#465 · Melissa#419 · Maria#87 · Martha#712 · Marie#617 · Mildred#1962
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mitsuko? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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