Kentaro

Meaning of Kentaro

Kentaro is a masculine Japanese appellation whose semantic core rests on the compound ken + tarō, with ken written variously as 健 (health, strength), 賢 (wisdom), or 堅 (steadfastness), and tarō (太郎) denoting “first-born son,” so the composite sense evokes a robust or enlightened eldest child; this functional morphology explains its enduring favor in Japan and its deliberate, if statistically modest, adoption in the United States, where Social Security records show a steady, low-frequency presence from the mid-1970s through the late 2010s. Beyond etymology, the name carries contemporary associations with cultural figures such as the late manga artist Kentaro Miura and Olympic sprinter Kentaro Fukuda, reinforcing an image of disciplined creativity and athletic rigor that appeals to Anglophone parents seeking an authentically Japanese yet internationally pronounceable choice.

Pronunciation

Japanese

• Pronunced as ken-TAH-roh (/kənˈtɑro/)

• Kenzo
• Kenta
• Kenjiro
• Kenshiro
• Kento
• Keitaro