is a feminine Japanese

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

. Its most common translation is "spring child" (春子, which may also be read as a Korean name Chun-ja), though other kanji provide different meanings. Notable people with the name include: * Princess Haruko (春子), the first daughter of

Emperor Tsuchimikado was the 83rd emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 土御門天皇 (83)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1959). ''The Imperial House of Japan,'' pp. 86–87. Tsuchimikado's reig ...

Haruko Arimura is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan. She is a descendant of Arimura Tsugizaemon, the ringleader of the Sakuradamon Incident, and Tōgō Heihachirō, the admi ...

(born 1970), politician *

Haruko Hasegawa Haruko Hasegawa (; 1895 – 1967) was a Japanese painter, illustrator, and writer. She was known for Yōga (Western-style Japanese painting) war painting, and was a member of the Kokugakai arts organization. Hasegawa visited war zones in the 1930s ...

(1895–1967), Japanese painter *

Haruko Hatoyama was a Japanese educator of the Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa periods, and the matriarchal head of the prominent Japanese Hatoyama political family which has been called "Japan's Kennedy family." She was a co-founder of what is today Kyoritsu Wome ...

(1863–1938), Japanese educator *, Japanese politician * Haruko Momma, Japanese philologist *

Haruko Momoi is a Japanese singer, songwriter and voice actress. She also produces an all-female pop group called Afilia Saga. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and is affectionately referred to as Halko by her fans, a nickname she gave herself which is inspired ...

(桃井はるこ, born 1977), Japanese voice actress * Haruko Nawata Ward, Japanese religious historian *, Japanese actress * Haruko Saida, women's

professional shogi player A professional shogi player (将棋棋士 ''shōgi kishi'' or プロ棋士 ''puro kishi'' "professional player") is a shogi player who is usually a member of a professional guild of shogi players. There are two categories of professional playe ...

Haruko Sugimura was a Japanese Theatre, stage and film actor, actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Biography Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. ...

(杉村春子, 1909–1997), Japanese actress *

Haruko Obokata is a former stem-cell biologist and research unit leader at Japan's Laboratory for Cellular Reprogramming, Riken Center for Developmental Biology. She claimed in 2014 to have developed a radical and remarkably easy way to generate stimulus-t ...

(小保方晴子, born 1983), Japanese biological scientist *, Japanese figure skating coach * Haruko Okano (born 1945), Japanese-Canadian artist *, Japanese manga artist * Haruko Tanaka (1974–2019), Los Angeles–based artist *, Japanese academic *, Japanese politician * the personal name of

Empress Shōken , who adopted the imperial given name in 1867 and was posthumously honoured as , was the wife of Emperor Meiji of Japan. She was one of the founders of the Japanese Red Cross Society, whose charity work was known throughout the First Sino-Japa ...

Fictional characters

*Haruko Akagi, a character in the manga series ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as a dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with on ...

'' *

Haruko Haruhara The central characters in ''FLCL'' (also known as ''Fooly Cooly''), a 2000 Japanese anime produced by Gainax and Production I.G, with two additional seasons released in 2018, followed by two more seasons in 2023. The first season covers the sto ...

, a character in the anime series ''FLCL'' * Haruko Kamio, a character in the visual novel ''

Air An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

'' * Haruko Kashiwagi, a character in the visual novel ''

Muv-Luv is a Japanese visual novel developed by âge and originally released as an adult game for Windows on February 28, 2003. Consisting of two parts, and the gameplay in ''Muv-Luv'' follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined ...

'' *

Haruko Mikogami is a Japanese anime franchise produced by Konami and animated by J.C.Staff. A 30-minute OVA episode was released on August 25, 2006 and a television series adaptation aired on Chiba TV from July 5, 2007, to December 27, 2007. Plot In the ...

, a secondary character in the anime series ''Sky Girls'' *

Haruko Shido is an anime television series scripted by Yōsuke Kuroda and produced by Bandai Visual, which was later adapted into a light novel and one-volume manga series. It centers on a family of three teenagers in high school all living together who ...

, a supporting character in the anime series ''Please Twins!'' {{given name Japanese feminine given names Feminine given names