Sakura
Feminine · “cherry blossom”
Sakura is the cherry blossom, and in Japan that is not simply a flower. It is a national preoccupation with its own forecast on the evening news, and a whole vocabulary of feeling built around the fact that it lasts about a week.
How old is the name Sakura?
Sakura first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Sakura alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,800 people named Sakura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sakura most popular?
Sakura peaked in 2012, reaching #2160 nationally. Today it ranks #2895, 735 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sakura
Hanami, the practice of going out to look at the blossom, is documented in Japan from the eighth century and has been a fixed part of the year ever since — courtiers wrote poems under the trees, and people still take the afternoon off to sit beneath them. The blossom's brevity is the point: it is the standing image in Japanese aesthetics for beauty that does not last, and a great deal of poetry turns on it. As a given name Sakura is modern rather than classical and became widely popular in Japan in recent decades. It reaches United States records with Japanese families and with parents who met it in anime and manga.
Meaning
cherry blossom
Japanese sakura names the flowering cherry and its blossom. The word's own older derivation is debated — a connection to saku, 'to bloom', is often proposed and not established — but what the word means today is not in any doubt. Written 桜, it is one of the most recognizable characters in the language.
Pronouncing Sakura
sah-KOO-rah
Three even beats in Japanese with no English-style stress, and the u is very light — closer to SAH-k'rah in ordinary speech. American English adds a stress in the middle, which is close enough to pass.
Nicknames for Sakura
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 201287 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2160reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +5.5%58 in 2025, from 55
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.
Sakura in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- 桜 in Japanese — transliteration
- さくら in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Sakuras among us
people named Sakura are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,712 born in 2025 was named Sakura
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 Lorissa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sakura's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lorissa climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lorissa's path sketches the road Sakura is walking now.
Sakura 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 Sakura is headed
Sakura 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.
Sakura beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sakura in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An exact, documented and universally recognized meaning within Japan.
- Six letters, entirely phonetic, and said nearly correctly by English speakers at first sight.
- Three open syllables that balance a short or blunt surname well.
- It is strongly associated with anime and manga for many American listeners, which arrives before the child does.
- In Japan it reads as a distinctly modern name rather than a traditional one.
- The middle u is nearly silent in Japanese and fully sounded in English, so the rhythm changes.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sakura to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sakura
Feminine · #2895 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sakuras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Sakura are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sakura in 2025?
- Sakura ranks #2895 among US girl names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sakura?
- About 1 in every 27,712 US girls born in 2025 was named Sakura — 58 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sakura with classmates?
- Sakura will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sakura
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Noora#2895 · Mylie#2895 · Vanellope#2895 · Amore#2895 · Miamor#2895 · Alyah#2895 · Alaska#2895 · Anastacia#2895
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sakura? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sakura and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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