Subaru — Meaning, Origin & Everything to Know

Subaru is a Japanese name carrying the meaning '(the Pleiades); to unite'. Because it rests on Japanese rather than passing fashion, Subaru carries a sense of history that many parents look for. Part of the draw of Subaru is that it feels current without being invented, and meaningful without being heavy. For a son, Subaru carries a sense of aspiration, brilliance and guidance while staying simple to say and spell.

What Does the Name Subaru Mean?

Subaru means '(the Pleiades); to unite', a sense it draws straight from its Japanese roots.

The early history of Subaru belongs to the Japanese world, where '(the Pleiades); to unite' was a quality worth naming a child for. Across generations the meaning '(the Pleiades); to unite' held firm while Subaru passed through families, migration and changing fashion.

Modern parents tend to hear Subaru as fresh rather than old-fashioned, with '(the Pleiades); to unite' giving it a positive, aspirational edge. It is exactly this balance that lifted Subaru into wider use in the 2010s.

Symbolically, Subaru leans toward aspiration, brilliance and guidance, with its Japanese roots adding heritage to that idea.

Origin & Etymology of Subaru

Japanese · Japanese

The roots of Subaru lie in Japanese, carrying the sense '(the Pleiades); to unite'. As Japanese communities moved and mixed, Subaru travelled with them — sometimes keeping its spelling, sometimes adapting, but holding its meaning.

Within Japanese culture, Subaru connects to enduring values through its idea of aspiration, brilliance and guidance.

How Japanese names are chosen

Japanese parents choose the sound and the characters as two separate decisions, and the second one is where the tradition bites. Seimei handan — literally name divination — counts the brush strokes in the written name and reads fortune from how those counts combine across five values known as the Five Kaku. Surveys put the share of parents who weigh stroke counts at around 70%, and professional naming consultants, meimei-shi, make a living advising on it. The practical consequence is a swap rather than a rethink: a name whose stroke count comes out unlucky is rewritten with different kanji of the same reading until the numbers behave.

One reading can be written many ways — Yuuki alone has dozens of kanji spellings — so the written form carries information the pronunciation does not.

How to Pronounce Subaru

SU-ba-ru — Subaru is usually said in 3 parts — SU · ba · ru. As a Japanese name, give every syllable equal length and a clean, pure vowel.