| Kaito | Ryu | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Ocean; soar | dragon |
| Origin | Japanese | japanese |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | KY-toh | ryoo |
| Syllables | 2 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1994 | 1985 |
| Peak year | 2022 (84) | 2012 (130) |
| In 2025 | 71 | 59 |
| Trend | Rising | Steady |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Kaito | Ryu |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 426 | 483 |
| 2010s | 463 | 741 |
| 2000s | 293 | 372 |
| 1990s | 53 | 77 |
| 1980s | 0 | 12 |
Kaito commonly joins the kanji for “sea/ocean” with “soar” or “fly.”
From Japanese 龍 / 竜 (ryuu) 'dragon'. Hedge: more often a dragon-bearing element within compound names than a standalone given name, and the same sound is written with other kanji meaning 'noble/prosperous' (隆), 'flow' (流) or 'lapis lazuli' (琉); the dragon meaning applies to the 龍/竜 spelling. Romanized Ryu or Ryuu (the macron/double-u marks a long vowel).
Kaito is more popular than Ryu today: about 71 US babies were given the name Kaito in 2025, compared with 59 named Ryu.
Kaito means Ocean; soar (Japanese origin), while Ryu means dragon (japanese origin).
In US records, Kaito first appears in 1994 and Ryu in 1985, so Ryu has the longer recorded history.