Given name
Kaoru
“a fragrant girl”
Kaoru is used as a given name. One Japanese interpretation is “a fragrant girl.”
Original Japanese薫
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “a fragrant girl.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Japanese.
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
Kaoru through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 251
- 168 boys · 83 girls
- Most popular year
- 1921
- 30 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 6 in 1999. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 17 in 1921. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 864 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.
Kaoru’s family of names
Kaoru has a related form in Kaori. In Japanese usage, Kaoru is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 薫. In Japanese usage, Kaoru is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 郁.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
People named Kaoru
- Kaoru MitomaJapanese association football playerborn 1997
- Kaoru IshikawaJapanese business theorist (1915–1989)
- Inoue KaoruJapanese politician (1836-1915)
- Kaoru TakayamaJapanese association football playerborn 1988
- Kaoru AsanoJapanese association football playerborn 1973
- Kaoru IkeyaJapanese astronomerborn 1943
- Kaoru MoriJapanese manga artistborn 1978
- Kaoru YosanoJapanese finance minister (1938-2017)
- Kaoru YachigusaJapanese actress (1931-2019)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Kaoru, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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