hiro

Hiro is a given name of Japanese origin. In Japan it is almost exclusively masculine and commonly used as a standalone name or as a shortened form of longer names such as Hiroshi, Hiroyuki, or Hiroaki. The meaning of Hiro varies with the kanji used to write it; common representations include 広/弘/宏 (wide, vast, broad), 洋 (ocean), 博 (wide knowledge), among others. Because of kanji flexibility, there is no single fixed meaning for the name.

Outside Japan, Hiro is used in various cultures as a given name or nickname and can appear in fictional and popular contexts. It is also encountered as a surname in some cases, though less common.

Notable uses in fiction include Hiro Hamada, the teenage robotics prodigy and main character in Disney's Big Hero 6; Hiro Nakamura, a main character in the NBC television series Heroes who gains time-bending abilities; and Hiro Protagonist, the hacker-samurai protagonist of Neal Stephenson's science fiction novel Snow Crash. The name has appeared in other media as well, reflecting its concise, cross-cultural appeal.

In sum, Hiro denotes a compact masculine given name with varied Japanese meanings depending on kanji, widely recognized via several prominent fictional characters.