Tadao

Tadao is a masculine given name of Japanese origin. The meaning of the name is not fixed, because it can be written with different kanji characters. Common elements associated with Tadao include 忠 (loyalty) and 雄 (hero, male) or 男 (man), but many kanji combinations are possible, producing a range of nuanced meanings. The name can also be written in kana.

The name is primarily used in Japan and among Japanese communities abroad. It is typically romanized as Tadao; in some transliteration schemes a long vowel is indicated as Tadō.

Notable bearers of the name include Tadao Ando (born 1941), a Japanese architect renowned for minimalist, light-filled concrete designs. Ando received the Pritzker Prize in 1995 for his contributions to contemporary architecture, with works such as the Church of the Light and projects on Naoshima.