Given name
Masao
“a righteous man”
Masao is used as a given name. One Japanese interpretation is “a righteous man.”
Original Japanese真生
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “a righteous man.”
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 1907. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Masao through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,018
- 1,018 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 81 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 2019. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 81 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 418 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.
Masao’s family of names
In English usage, Masao was borrowed from the Japanese form まさお. In Japanese usage, Masao is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 優夫. In Japanese usage, Masao is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 政夫.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 10
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
- 真生original script · Japanese
- 優夫original script · Japanese
- 正雄original script · Japanese
- 聖雄original script · Japanese
- 雅生original script · Japanese
- 昌男original script · Japanese
- 正夫original script · Japanese
- 政雄original script · Japanese
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Masao
- Masao UchinoJapanese association football player1934–2013
- Masao NozawaJapanese association football player
- Masao OnoJapanese association football player (1923–2001)
- Masao KibaJapanese association football playerborn 1974
- Masao TsujiJapanese association football playerborn 1987
- Masao TakemotoJapanese artistic gymnast (1919–2007)
- Masao HaradaJapanese triple jumper (1912–2000)
- Masao YoshidaPlant manager during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster1955–2013
- Masao AraiOlympic medalist in wrestling1949–2024
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Masao, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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