Neko
Masculine
Neko is given to both — 1,001 boys and 247 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Neko is a short modern name whose most-cited meaning is a coincidence rather than a source: neko is the ordinary Japanese word for a cat, and it is not used as a personal name in Japan.
How old is the name Neko?
Neko first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Neko alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,000 people named Neko are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Neko most popular?
Neko peaked in 2021, reaching #2439 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 940 places below that high. See the whole 2021 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Neko
Ours, offered plainly as ours. Neko is worth being straight about, because the Japanese connection is the first thing anyone will offer and it does not hold: the word is real, the meaning is real, and Japanese families do not use it as a name any more than English families name a child Cat. What the name actually has is a shape — two open syllables, a hard consonant in the middle, readable in almost every language — and a genuinely international sound that belongs to no one language in particular.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No source is established. Japanese neko does mean cat, but the word is not a Japanese given name. Separately the name occurs in West African and African-American use with its own history, and it functions in American records as a short two-syllable coinage. None of these is documented as the source of the others.
Pronouncing Neko
NEH-koh
Two syllables, first stressed, both vowels short and pure. Some English speakers say NEE-koh.
Nicknames for Neko
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
- 1969
- Most boys named
- 202155 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2439reached in 2021
- Change vs 2024
- +25.9%34 in 2025, from 27
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.
Neko in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Michigan.
Nekos among us
people named Neko are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Neko
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Neko
- #3379
- Neko on the 2025 chart
- #883
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Neko went to 34 boys in 2025, but Neeko is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 45, which makes it the 883rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,496 places above the chart.
- Neko34
- Neeko11
About 1 boy in 37,957 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 50,238 for Neko itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Zan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Neko's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zan climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zan's path sketches the road Neko is walking now.
Neko 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 Neko is headed
Neko should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Neko beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Neko in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two syllables, readable at sight in a great many languages.
- Open, even syllables make it easy to say and hard to mishear.
- Rare in the records, so it stays distinct on a class list.
- Everyone who knows any Japanese will mention the cat, every time.
- Niko and Neko are close and much confused, and Niko is a completely different name.
- There is no documented meaning for the name as used in English.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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Neko
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nekos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Neko are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Neko?
- Neko is the most-used spelling in US records — 34 of the 45 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Neeko.
- How popular is the name Neko in 2025?
- Neko ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Neko?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Neko — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Neko with classmates?
- Neko will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Neko
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Neko? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Neko and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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