Given name & surname
Tomoko
“one who is intelligent”
Tomoko is used as a given name and a surname. One Japanese interpretation is “one who is intelligent.”
Original Japanese登茂子
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “one who is intelligent.”
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 1923. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tomoko through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 128
- 0 boys · 128 girls
- Most popular year
- 1982
- 10 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 girls is 5 in 1991. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 10 in 1982. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,754 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.
Tomoko’s family of names
Tomoko has a related form in Tomoyo. In Filipino usage, Tomoko was borrowed from the Japanese form ともこ. In Japanese usage, Tomoko is a Roman-alphabet rendering of とも子.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
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 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Tomoko
- Tomoko MatsunagaJapanese association football playerborn 1971
- Tomoko MuramatsuJapanese association football playerborn 1994
- Tomoko SuzukiJapanese association football playerborn 1982
- Tomoko OharaJapanese association football playerborn 1957
- Tomoko KawakamiJapanese voice actress (1970-2011)
- Tomoko AkaneJapanese jurist and judge (1956–)
- Tomoko OhtaJapanese biologistborn 1933
- Tomoko KanedaJapanese voice actressborn 1973
- Tomoko KawaseJapanese singer, lead vocalist of band The Brilliant Greenborn 1975
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Tomoko, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Tomii
Tomii is a surname from Japanese.
>99% girls
Taniko
Taniko is a feminine given name from Japanese.
>99% girls
Tomomi
Tomomi is a feminine given name from Japanese.
>99% girls
Taketa
Taketa is a surname from Japanese.
>99% girls
Satoko
Satoko is a feminine given name from Japanese.
>99% girls
Yuko
Yuko is a feminine given name from Japanese. It is used in English, French, and Portuguese.
>99% girls
Tanaka
Tanaka is a surname from Japanese. It is used in English and Tagalog.
7% boys · 93% girls
Tamura
Tamura is a surname from Japanese.
>99% girls