Tadashi
Masculine · “Japanese "correct”
Tadashi is a name that loses most of itself in the Roman alphabet. In Japanese the meaning is carried by the written character, not the sound, and the same sound tadashi can be written with several different kanji — 正, 忠, 匡 — each with a different sense. Romanised, that information is simply gone.
How old is the name Tadashi?
Tadashi first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Tadashi alive today was born around 1926, making them about 99 years old. About 200 people named Tadashi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tadashi most popular?
Tadashi peaked in 1917, reaching #1152 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,042 places below that high. See the whole 1917 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From 正 to Tadashi
The story of Tadashi
The American figures for Tadashi peak in 1917, which places them squarely in the first wave of Japanese immigration to Hawaii and the West Coast — labor migration that began in the 1880s and was halted by the Immigration Act of 1924, which barred entry to Japanese nationals almost entirely. The name's curve shows that history directly: a rise through the 1900s and 1910s, a peak in the late 1910s, and a long decline afterwards as immigration stopped and the American-born second generation, the Nisei, were given English given names alongside or instead of Japanese ones. The internment of 1942 accelerated that shift.
Meaningscholars disagree
Japanese "correct, upright" or "loyal", depending on the character
The most common writing is 正, correct or just, from the adjective tadashii. Other standard writings include 忠, loyalty or devotion, and 匡, to correct or reform. A Japanese person named Tadashi has one specific character, and that character is the name's meaning; two men with the same romanisation may have unrelated ones. This is not ambiguity in the etymology but a feature of the writing system, and it does not survive the transfer into English.
How the name formed
- 正
- Tadashi
Related forms: ただし · Tadao
Pronouncing Tadashi
TAH-dah-shee
Three syllables with even weight and pure vowels; Japanese has pitch accent rather than stress, so no syllable is hit harder than the others. English speakers say tuh-DAH-shee, which adds a stress the name does not have.
Nicknames for Tadashi
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 192235 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1152reached in 1917
- Change vs 2024
- +22.2%11 in 2025, from 9
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.
Tadashi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ただし in Japanese — transliteration
- Tadao in Japanese — related form
Tadashis among us
people named Tadashi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Tadashi
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 Lemar test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tadashi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lemar climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lemar's path sketches the road Tadashi is walking now.
Tadashi 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
Tadashi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tadashi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a settled, entirely ordinary Japanese name with a documented written meaning.
- Tad is an easy English short form that already exists.
- The romanised spelling is phonetic and read correctly by most English speakers.
- The meaning depends on a character that a romanised name cannot show.
- English speakers add a stress pattern that Japanese does not use.
- It is very rare in current American data.
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What they receive
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Tadashi
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tadashis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Tadashi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tadashi in 2025?
- Tadashi ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tadashi?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Tadashi — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tadashi with classmates?
- Tadashi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tadashi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tadashi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tadashi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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