明六社の核となった同人には森、西村に誘われて津田真道、西周(啓蒙家)、中村正直、加藤弘之、箕作秋坪、福澤諭吉、杉亨二、箕作麟祥など、当時を代表する錚々たる知識人たちが参加した（以下の文では適宜単に名字のみを記す）。

The major members of Meirokusha were such excellent intellectuals in those days as Mamichi TSUDA, Amane NISHI (keimoka), Masanao NAKAMURA, Hiroyuki KATO, Shuhei MITSUKURI, Yukichi FUKUZAWA, Koji SUGI and Rinsho MITSUKURI, who all were encouraged by Mori and Nishimura (only their surnames are written bellow). - Wikipedia日英京都関連文書対訳コーパス

1873年（明治6年）7月にアメリカ合衆国から帰国した森有礼(もりありのり)が、福澤諭吉・加藤弘之・中村正直・西周(啓蒙家)(にしあまね)・西村茂樹・津田真道・箕作秋坪・杉亨二・箕作麟祥らとともに同年秋に啓蒙活動を目的として結成。

The society, whose aim was activities promoting enlightenment, was set up in the autumn of 1873 by Arinori MORI, who had returned to Japan from the United States of America in July of that year, along with people such as Yukichi FUKUZAWA, Hiroyuki KATO, Masanao NAKAMURA, Amane NISHI (an enlightenment intellectual), Shigeki NISHIMURA, Mamichi TSUDA, Shuhei MITSUKURI, Koji SUGI and Rinsho MITSUKURI. - Wikipedia日英京都関連文書対訳コーパス