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 fa ...

. 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 (born 1970), politician *

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 actress *, Japanese badminton player *, Japanese politician * Haruko Momma, Japanese philologist * Haruko Momoi (桃井はるこ, born 1977), a religious historian *

Haruko Nawata Ward Haruko Nawata Ward is a religious historian currently teaching church history at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is known primarily for her work on women religious leaders, history of Christianity in Asia, history of the Christian Reformation, e ...

(1922–2015), Japanese actress *, Japanese actress *

Haruko Saida is a Japanese women's professional shogi player ranked 5- dan. She is a former Women's Meijin, and title holder. She is currently serving as a non-executive director for the Japan Shogi Association. Women's shogi professional Promotion hist ...

, women's professional shogi player *

Haruko Sugimura was a Japanese stage and film 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. After the death of her parents, ...

(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 Haruko Okano (born March 26, 1945) is a process-based, collaborative, multidisciplinary, mixed-media artist, poet, community organizer, and activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Life Haruko Okano was born in Toronto, Ontario. She is a ...

(born 1945), Japanese-Canadian artist *, Japanese manga artist *

Haruko Tanaka Haruko Tanaka (b. Queens, NY 1974, d. 2019) was a Los Angeles-based artist and filmmaker. She was awarded fellowships and residencies at the Japanese American National Museum and the Echo Park Film Center. Tanaka is also part of the psychic duo K ...

(1974-2019), Los Angeles-based artist *, Japanese academic *, Japanese politician * the personal name of

Empress Shōken , born , was the wife and adviser of Emperor Meiji of Japan. She is also known under the technically more correct name . She was one of the founders of the Japanese Red Cross Society, whose charity work was known throughout the First Sino-Japanese ...

Fictional characters

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

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as 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 one ...

'' *

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. The first season covers the story of a sixth grade student named Naota Nand ...

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

Air The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...

'' *

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