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Shigeo

♂ Boy

How to Pronounce Shigeo

Pronounced shee-GEH-oh /ʃiˈɡɛ.oʊ/Medium

Meaning: Shigeo is a Japanese masculine name, most often read as 'luxuriant' or 'flourishing' with the final element 'o' meaning 'man' or 'husband'. Exact meaning depends on the characters a family chose, but the flourishing sense is the common one.Medium

In 30 seconds: Shigeo is a Japanese boy's name usually read as 'flourishing man' — a name of the early Japanese-American generations (said 'shee-GEH-oh').

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Origin MediumJapanese

MeaningShigeo is a Japanese masculine name, most often read as 'luxuriant' or 'flourishing' with the final element 'o' meaning 'man' or 'husband'. Exact meaning depends on the characters a family chose, but the flourishing sense is the common one.

U.S. rank (1936)#3493 ↘ Falling

1936 U.S. births6 boys (0.00% of U.S. boys)

Peak year1923

Total births (all-time)≈ 427

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

Shigeo is a Japanese masculine name, generally read as 'luxuriant' or 'flourishing' joined to 'o', 'man'. In the United States it belonged to the early Japanese-American community, the immigrant Issei and their American-born Nisei children of the early twentieth century.

Its span in the record runs only from the nineteen-tens into the mid-nineteen-thirties, with never more than a few dozen boys a year — a small cohort whose naming record thins sharply around the wartime years and the internment of Japanese-American families. We handle it as the factual trace of that community, not a fad.

Did you know? Shigeo's appearance in the American record clusters before the Second World War and then stops, a quiet trace of the Issei and Nisei families whose communities were uprooted by wartime internment.

Overall data confidence 60%

References — Shigeo — Japanese 'flourishing man'; pre-WWII Issei/Nisei cohort; romaji only

Variations

Shigemi

Nicknames

Shige

Famous Bearers

Famous bearers coming soon.

If you like Shigeo…

Hideo— a fellow Japanese -o boys' name of the same generation

Takeo— shares the -o 'man' ending and era

Kazuo— another classic Japanese boys' name of that cohort

Shigeru— a similarly popular pick

Satori— a similarly popular pick

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Frequently Asked

What does the name Shigeo mean?

Shigeo is a Japanese name most often read as 'luxuriant, flourishing' with 'o' meaning 'man'.

How do you pronounce Shigeo?

It's said shee-GEH-oh /ʃiˈɡɛ.oʊ/ — three syllables, stress on the second.

Is Shigeo a boy or girl name?

Shigeo is used as a boy's name.

How popular is Shigeo?

Shigeo has always been very rare in the U.S., borne by the early Japanese-American community before the Second World War.