Hiro is an apt name for a hero of the show Heroes -- and for our times. Widely used in Japan, sometimes also for girls. Hiroshi is a long form.

Many things to many peoples: a flower name, also spelled Hanae, to the Japanese; a Czech and Polish short form of Johana; and an alternate form of the biblical name Hannah in the US. It also means "craft, work" in Hawaiian and "glow" in Maori.

A unisex Japanese name with a beautiful and radiant meaning, it is notably borne by chess prodigy Hikaru Nakamura, and is a central character in the manga series The Summer Hikaru Died.

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, well known in the U. S. , might inspire some namesakes. Haruki is a popular Japanese name meaning spring tree or bright tree, a lovely nature meaning combined with its literary credibility.

Short and catchy form of traditional Asian name.

As well as Japanese physicist Hideki Yukawa, two Yankees ballplayers, Hideki Irabu and Hideki Matsui, made this name familiar to Americans.

Hanako has a delicate sound and quaint meaning -- but there's a catch. According to widespread urban legend in Japan, Hanako is the name of the ghost of a little girl who haunts school bathrooms, who sometimes answers if you call her name.

A very popular Japanese boys' name whose characters refer to the constellation Ursa Major. Short form Hiro might work better in the West, as may another popular Japanese boys' name, Ren.

A traditional possibility for a Japanese or Japanese-American child born in April or May.

Several artistic Hiroshis make this one of the more plausible Japanese imports.

Commonly used in Japanese families.