Given name
Hanako
“resembling a flower blossom”·“a blissful woman”
Hanako is a variant of Hana. Interpretations include “resembling a flower blossom” and “a blissful woman”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Original Japanese花心
Meaning & origin
What it means
Hanako is a variant of Hana. Interpretations include “resembling a flower blossom” and “a blissful woman”. These belong to different or overlapping naming contexts.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Hanako through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 397
- 0 boys · 397 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 19 babies
- 2025
- 10
- #9,688 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 10 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 9,688 among girls’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 389 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Hanako’s family of names
Hanako has a related form in Hana. In Japanese usage, Hanako is a Roman-alphabet rendering of はなこ. Hanako was borrowed from the Japanese form はなこ.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 34
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
- 花心original script · Japanese
- 葉菜子original script · Japanese
- 華菜子original script · Japanese
- 花艶子original script · Japanese
- 羽那子original script · Japanese
- 葉南子original script · Japanese
- 芭奈子original script · Japanese
- 羽名子original script · Japanese
Show 26 moreShow fewer
- 芭名子original script · Japanese
- 覇奈子original script · Japanese
- 華那子original script · Japanese
- 華奈子original script · Japanese
- 羽菜子original script · Japanese
- 巴茄仔original script · Japanese
- 巴奈子original script · Japanese
- 晴奈子original script · Japanese
- 羽奈子original script · Japanese
- 葉名子original script · Japanese
- 芭菜子original script · Japanese
- 花奈子original script · Japanese
- 春菜子original script · Japanese
- 晴凪湖original script · Japanese
- 果奈子original script · Japanese
- 晴菜子original script · Japanese
- 葉那子original script · Japanese
- 葉奈子original script · Japanese
- 瑛子original script · Japanese
- 英夏original script · Japanese
- 華瑚original script · Japanese
- はなこoriginal script · Japanese
- 椛子original script · Japanese
- 媛子original script · Japanese
- 花子original script · Japanese
- 華子original script · Japanese
People named Hanako
- Hanako, Princess HitachiJapanese princess; wife of Masahito, Prince Hitachiborn 1940
- Hanako MuraokaJapanese novelist and translator (1893–1968)
- Hanako OkuJapanese singer-songwriterborn 1978
- Hanako JimiJapanese politicianborn 1976
- Hanako TakigawaJapanese actressborn 1988
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Hanako, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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—
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