Jiraiya
- Gender
- Boy
- Say it
- jee-RY-a
- Origin
- Japanese
- UK rank, 2025
- #3,747 for boys
- US rank, 2025
- #988 for boys
Jiraiya is a boys' name of Japanese origin, meaning “thunder child”. In 2025 it ranked 3,747th for boys in the UK (5 babies) and 988th for boys in the US (231 babies).
What does Jiraiya mean?
Japanese: from the folk hero Jiraiya, via the anime Naruto
“thunder child”
Jiraiya is a toad-magic ninja of 19th-century Japanese folk tales, also a well-known character in the anime Naruto.
Is Jiraiya a girl's or a boy's name?
Jiraiya is a boys' name. In 2025, it was given to 5 boys in the UK and 19 girls and 231 boys in the US.
How popular is Jiraiya in the UK?
- Rank in 2025
- 3,747th among boys
- Babies in 2025
- 5 about 1 in 60,000 boys
- Five-year trend
- Rising fast up 114% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 boys
In 2025, 5 boys in the UK were named Jiraiya, making it the 3,747th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 4,025th. Its busiest year was 2023, with 7 boys.
Among boys in 2025, it was 3,656th in England and Wales.
Jiraiya in the UK, year by year
| Year | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #3,747 |
| 2024 | 3 | #5,198 |
| 2023 | 7 | #2,965 |
| 2022 | 6 | #3,219 |
| 2021 | 0 | – |
| 2020 | 4 | #4,025 |
| 2019 | 0 | – |
| 2018 | 3 | #4,959 |
| 2017 | 0 | – |
| 2016 | 3 | #5,015 |
How popular is Jiraiya in the US?
- Rank in 2025
- 988th among boys
- Babies in 2025
- 231 about 1 in 7,400 boys
- Five-year trend
- Rising fast up 101% in five years
- Same name in a class
- under 1% chance among 15 boys
In 2025, 231 boys in the US were named Jiraiya, making it the 988th most popular name for boys. Five years earlier, in 2020, it was 1,081st. Its busiest year was 2023, with 357 boys. It first appears in the records in 2007. 19 girls were also named Jiraiya in 2025 (6,115th for girls).
2025 had fewer boys named Jiraiya than any year since 2020.
Half of all the boys named Jiraiya in the US since 1880 were born between 2019 and 2023, the years shaded on the chart below.
In 2025, 237 boys in the US were given Jiraiya or a name that sounds the same. With every name's spellings counted this way, that ranks #897, up from #988 for this spelling alone.
- Jiraiya 231
- Jiraiyah 6
Jiraiya in the US, year by year
| Year | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 231 | #988 |
| 2024 | 254 | #916 |
| 2023 | 357 | #735 |
| 2022 | 317 | #796 |
| 2021 | 289 | #825 |
| 2020 | 184 | #1,081 |
| 2019 | 127 | #1,394 |
| 2018 | 108 | #1,553 |
| 2017 | 88 | #1,746 |
| 2016 | 59 | #2,255 |
| 2015 | 45 | #2,683 |
| 2014 | 38 | #2,983 |
| 2013 | 25 | #3,962 |
| 2012 | 35 | #3,176 |
| 2011 | 34 | #3,234 |
| 2010 | 31 | #3,452 |
| 2009 | 25 | #4,033 |
| 2008 | 22 | #4,392 |
| 2007 | 9 | #8,169 |
Names like Jiraiya
Names given in the same years and the same naming tradition, with a similar sound.
Musa, Muhammad, Huzaifa, Mustafa, Hamza, Zakariya, Yahya, Ibrahim, Zayan, Zayaan, Abdullah, Zayd
Names related to Jiraiya
More Japanese names
Kobe, Kaizen, Raiden, Ren, Akari, Kenzo, Ronin, Kyomi, Akira, Yuna, Emi, Kiyomi, Kairi, Miya, Kenji, Reo
Sources
Figures from Baby names in England and Wales (Office for National Statistics), Babies' first names (National Records of Scotland), Baby names (Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) and Popular Baby Names (US Social Security Administration). Nameling last updated them on 20 October 2026. How the figures are worked out, and the data to download.
To cite this page: Nameling, “Jiraiya: name meaning, origin and popularity”, https://www.nameling.co.uk/names/jiraiya, updated 20 October 2026.