Shigeru
Masculine · “Flourishing”
Shigeru is a Japanese boy's name meaning flourishing, carried to America by Japanese immigrant families. Two modern Shigerus changed their fields: one designed the world's best-loved video games, and one builds with paper.
How old is the name Shigeru?
Shigeru first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Shigeru alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Shigeru are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Shigeru most popular?
Shigeru peaked in 1918, reaching #1079 nationally. See the whole 1918 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Shigeru
Shigeru Miyamoto grew up in the countryside near Kyoto, wandering hills, woods and lakes and once finding a cave he explored by lantern; at Nintendo he turned those memories into The Legend of Zelda, alongside Mario and Donkey Kong. The architect Shigeru Ban builds with cardboard tubes, making churches, shelters and partitions for people after earthquakes and wars, and won the Pritzker Prize. In America the name was given mainly by Japanese immigrant families to their sons.
Meaning
'Flourishing, luxuriant'
Shigeru is most often written with a character meaning to grow thickly, to flourish.
Pronouncing Shigeru
shee-geh-ROO
Three even syllables in Japanese; English speakers often stress the second, shih-GAIR-oo.
Nicknames for Shigeru
Limited
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
- 1910
- Most boys named
- 192142 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1079reached in 1918
- Change vs 1937
- 0.0%5 in 1938, 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.
Shigeru in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shigeru in Japanese — same name
Shigerus among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Shigeru 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
Shigeru 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
- A settled meaning.
- Famous modern namesakes.
- Almost certain to be the only one.
- English speakers will stumble over the stress.
- It will need spelling out.
- It reads as a name of an earlier generation of Japanese Americans.
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Shigeru
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Shigerus 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 Shigeru are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Shigeru in 2025?
- Shigeru is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Shigeru with classmates?
- Shigeru will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shigeru? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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