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Toshiko
How to Pronounce Toshiko
Pronounced toh-SHEE-koh /toʊˈʃiː.koʊ/Medium
Meaning: Toshiko is a traditional Japanese girls' name formed from 'toshi' — which, by the characters chosen, can mean 'clever', 'alert', or 'year' — plus the feminine suffix 'ko', 'child'. It commonly reads as 'clever child'. Like Masako and Yoshiko, it belongs to the -ko naming pattern standard for Japanese girls in the twentieth century.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
Toshiko is a classic Japanese girls' name built from 'toshi', variously 'clever', 'alert', or 'year', and 'ko', 'child'. It appears in United States records from the early nineteen-hundreds through first- and second-generation Japanese-American families, sitting alongside Masako, Yoshiko and Akiko in the same -ko tradition.
Its American use crested near sixty girls a year around 1923 within those communities and continued at a modest level across the century. A woman given it at its early peak would belong to an older Japanese-American generation, and it remains a heritage name rather than a fashion.
Variations
Nicknames
Famous Bearers
- ★Toshiko Akiyoshi (1929–present)Japanese-American jazz pianist, composer and big-band leader, a pioneering figure in American jazz.
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Frequently Asked
What does the name Toshiko mean?
Toshiko is a Japanese name meaning roughly 'clever child', from 'toshi', 'clever' or 'alert', plus 'ko', 'child'.
How do you pronounce Toshiko?
It's said toh-SHEE-koh /toʊˈʃiː.koʊ/ — three syllables, with a light stress on the second.
Is Toshiko a boy or girl name?
Toshiko is used as a girl's name.
How popular is Toshiko?
Toshiko is an uncommon name in the U.S., borne chiefly by Japanese-American families through the twentieth century.