Given name & surname
Plato
“one who has broad shoulders”
Plato is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “one who has broad shoulders.”
Original Ancient GreekΠλάτων
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “one who has broad shoulders.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
How it developed
In English usage, Plato developed from Πλάτων.
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
Plato through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 216
- 216 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1928
- 13 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 1977. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 132 as a first name in 2020; 964 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Plato’s family of names
In English usage, Plato developed from the Ancient Greek form Πλάτων. In English usage, Plato has a related form in Platon. In English usage, Plato has a conventional equivalent in the French form Platon.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Plato has relatives in 46 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Plato comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 34
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Πλάτωνroot · Ancient Greek, Greek
- Плато́нUkrainian, Russian
- EflatunTurkish
- เพลโตThai
- ప్లేటోTelugu
- PlatónSpanish, Irish
- PlatãoPortuguese
- فلاتنPersian
Show 26 moreShow fewer
- پلاتنPersian
- فلاطونPersian
- افلاطونPersian
- प्लेटोMarathi
- अफलातूनMarathi, Hindi
- ПлатонMacedonian
- ປະລາຕົງlo
- 플라톤Korean
- ប្លាតុងKhmer
- プラトンJapanese
- PlatoneItalian
- Platonaizh
- फलातूँHindi
- फ़लातूँHindi
- अफ़्लातूनHindi
- אַפְּלָטוֹןHebrew
- અફલાતૂનGujarati
- პლატონიGeorgian
- Platonoalso known as · Esperanto
- PlatóCatalan
- Пла́тонBulgarian
- ՊղատոնClassical Armenian
- ՊլատոնArmenian
- ܦܠܵܛܘܿܢaii
- أفلاطونacw
- أَفْلَاطُونArabic
People named Plato
- Plato4th-century BCE Greek philosopher428 BC–348 BC
- Plato Tiburtinus12th-century Italian astronomer and mathematician1110–1145
- Plato of BactriaBactrian king200 BC–200 BC
- Plato of SakkoudionByzantine saint740–814
- Plato von UstinovRussian-German noble1840–1919
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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If you love Plato, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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