Given name
Kiyoshi
“a quiet child; one who is pure”
Kiyoshi is used as a given name. One Japanese interpretation is “a quiet child; one who is pure.”
Original Japanese清志
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “a quiet child; one who is pure.”
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 1910. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Kiyoshi through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,241
- 1,226 boys · 15 girls
- Most popular year
- 1923
- 66 babies
- 2025
- 9
- #8,618 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +23%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 9 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 8,618 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 11.4% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 66 in 1923. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 752 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.
Kiyoshi’s family of names
Kiyoshi has a related form in Kioshi. Kiyoshi has a related form in Kiyoshea. Kiyoshi has a related form in Kiyoshee.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 6
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 8
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Kiyoshi
- Kiyoshi TomizawaJapanese association football playerborn 1943
- Kiyosi ItôJapanese mathematician who pioneered stochastic calculus (1915–2008)
- Kiyoshi KurosawaJapanese film director, screenwriter and film criticborn 1955
- Kiyoshi OkumaJapanese association football player and managerborn 1964
- Kiyoshi ShigaJapanese physician (1871-1957)
- Kiyoshi NakamuraJapanese association football playerborn 1971
- Kiyoshi SaitoJapanese association football playerborn 1982
- Kiyoshi TanabeJapanese boxerborn 1940
- Kiyoshi AtsumiJapanese actor (1928-1996)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Kiyoshi, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Kazuyoshi
Kazuyoshi is a masculine given name from Japanese.
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Kenichi
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“born from the ashes”
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Katsumi
Katsumi is a masculine given name from Japanese.
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Yoichi
Yoichi is a masculine given name from Japanese.
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Hisashi
Hisashi is a masculine given name from Japanese. It is used in English and Tagalog.
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Takashi
Takashi is a masculine given name from Japanese.
>99% boys