Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1914. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Iwao through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 178
- 178 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 20 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1936. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 20 in 1921.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Iwao’s family of names
In English usage, Iwao was borrowed from the Japanese form いわお. In Japanese usage, Iwao is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 岩夫. In Japanese usage, Iwao is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 岩男.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 6
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Iwao
- Ōyama IwaoJapanese general (1842-1916)
- Iwao YamaneJapanese association football playerborn 1976
- Iwao TakamotoAmerican animator (1925-2007)
- Iwao HakamataJapanese boxer and prisonerborn 1936
- Iwao HoriuchiOlympic medalist in wrestling1941–2015
- Iwao YamazakiJapanese bureaucrat, cabinet minister (1894-1968)
- Iwao AizawaJapanese sprinter (1906-1945)
- Iwao YamawakiJapanese architect and photographer (1898–1987)
- Iwao MiyajimaJapanese ski jumper1914–2005
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Iwao, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Isao
Isao is a masculine given name from Japanese. It is used in French.
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Yoshiro
“the good son; a free son”
>99% boys
Shiro
“the fourth-born son”
>99% boys
Yoichi
Yoichi is a masculine given name from Japanese.
>99% boys
Yasuo
“one who is peaceful”
>99% boys
Shigeo
Shigeo is a masculine given name from Japanese. It is used in English and Portuguese.
>99% boys
Yoshitaka
Yoshitaka is a masculine given name from Japanese.
>99% boys
Shigeru
Shigeru is a masculine given name from Japanese.
>99% boys