Home › Baby Names Directory › Kaoru
Kaoru
How to Pronounce Kaoru
Pronounced kah-OH-roo /kɑˈoʊ.ɾu/Low
Meaning: Kaoru is a Japanese given name generally meaning fragrance, aroma, or perfume; like many Japanese names its exact sense depends on the written characters a family chooses.Medium
Popularity in the U.S. · SSA data
U.S. births per year (Social Security Administration, 1880–present). Pink marker = peak year.
SSA data updated May 2026. How we source & verify this data.
History & Origin
Kaoru is a long-used Japanese given name meaning fragrance, worn by both girls and boys in Japan. In American records of the early twentieth century it belonged mostly to Japanese immigrant families.
Kaoru was always rare in the United States, given to only about twenty boys a year at its small peak around the early nineteen-twenties among Japanese American families. A boy named Kaoru then would be over a hundred years old today.
Variations
Nicknames
Famous Bearers
- Famous bearers coming soon.
If you like Kaoru…
Explore names like Kaoru
Frequently Asked
What does the name Kaoru mean?
It is a Japanese name meaning fragrance, aroma, or perfume, with its exact sense set by the written characters.
How do you pronounce Kaoru?
It is said kah-OH-roo /kɑˈoʊ.ɾu/, three syllables with the stress on the second.
Is Kaoru a boy or girl name?
Kaoru is unisex in Japan and is recorded here as a boy's name.
How popular is Kaoru?
It has always been rare in the United States, given to only about twenty boys a year at its small peak in the early nineteen-twenties.