Shizuko
Feminine · “Usually 'quiet child”
Shizuko is a Japanese name usually written with the characters for 'quiet' and 'child', and it came to America with Japanese families in the early twentieth century. Its two most famous relatives were anything but quiet: a boogie-woogie star of postwar Tokyo and a dancer who defied a shogun.
How old is the name Shizuko?
Shizuko first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Shizuko alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Shizuko are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Shizuko most popular?
Shizuko peaked in 1914, reaching #1034 nationally. See the whole 1914 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Shizuko
In 1186 the dancer Shizuka Gozen, lover of the fugitive warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was brought before his brother Yoritomo, the new shogun who was hunting him, and ordered to dance; she sang instead of her longing for Yoshitsune, and the scene became one of the most famous in Japanese literature. In 1947, in a Tokyo still in ruins, Shizuko Kasai recorded 'Tokyo Boogie-Woogie', and its brash energy made her the queen of postwar Japanese pop. Shizuko was given by Japanese families in America in the years before immigration from Japan was closed.
Meaningscholars disagree
Usually 'quiet child'
Shizuko is most often written with the characters for 'quiet' and 'child', but other characters with the same sound give other meanings; the meaning depends on how the family wrote it.
Pronouncing Shizuko
shee-ZOO-koh
Three even syllables in Japanese; English speakers usually stress the second.
Nicknames for Shizuko
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
- 1908
- Most girls named
- 192143 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1034reached in 1914
- Change vs 1933
- 0.0%8 in 1937, from 8
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.
Shizuko in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shizuko in Japanese — transliteration
- Shizuka in Japanese — related form
Shizukos among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Shizuko 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
Shizuko 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 clear meaning in its usual written form.
- A long history in Japanese-American families.
- Comes with Shizu as a ready short form.
- Its meaning depends on the characters chosen, which a family will want to decide.
- English speakers will need help with the pronunciation.
- It reads as an older-generation name in Japanese-American communities.
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Shizuko
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shizukos 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 Shizuko are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Shizuko in 2025?
- Shizuko is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shizuko with classmates?
- Shizuko will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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