Japanese name meaning 'correct,' 'true,' or 'elegant.'
Masa is a name worn by several distinct cultures, each lending it its own personality. In Japanese, the name is written with kanji such as 正 ("correct, righteous"), 雅 ("elegant, graceful"), or 真 ("true, genuine"), making its meaning shift depending on the character chosen by a child's parents — a practice that gives Japanese naming a layered intentionality rare in Western traditions. As a standalone given name or as the first element in compound names like Masahiro or Masaki, Masa has been a dignified Japanese choice for both men and women for centuries.
Beyond Japan, Masa appears in Yoruba-speaking West Africa as a name with its own cultural resonance, and in some Hebrew contexts it echoes the biblical place-name Massa. The word masa itself is also the Spanish term for the nixtamalized maize dough central to Mesoamerican cooking — a reminder that names, like food, carry the deep memory of a people's history and sustenance. In the wider English-speaking world, Masa has gained visibility partly through the extraordinary career of Masayoshi Son, the Japanese-American technology investor and founder of SoftBank, universally known as "Masa."
His prominence has given the name an association with bold vision and global ambition. Whether chosen for Japanese heritage, its cross-cultural simplicity, or its clean two-syllable sound, Masa sits comfortably in a modern landscape that prizes names both meaningful and easy to carry across language boundaries.