List of common Japanese surnames
Officially, among Japanese names there are 291,129 different Japanese surnames (姓, sei),[1] as determined by their kanji, although many of these are pronounced and romanized similarly. Conversely, some surnames written the same in kanji may also be pronounced differently.[2] The top 10 surnames cover approximately 10% of the population, while the top 100 surnames cover slightly more than 33%.[3]
This ranking is a result of an August 2008 study by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company,[3] which included approximately 6,118,000 customers of Meiji Yasuda's insurance and annuities.
List
| Rank | Name | 2008 estimates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kanji | Romaji | Numbers | % | |
| 1 | 佐藤 | Satō | 1,990,000 | 1.57 |
| 2 | 鈴木 | Suzuki | 1,900,000 | 1.50 |
| 3 | 高橋 | Takahashi | 1,470,000 | 1.16 |
| 4 | 田中 | Tanaka | 1,340,000 | 1.06 |
| 5 | 渡辺 | Watanabe | 1,200,000 | 0.95 |
| 6 | 伊藤 | Itō | 1,150,000 | 0.91 |
| 7 | 中村 | Nakamura | 1,080,000 | 0.85 |
| 8 | 小林 | Kobayashi | 1,060,000 | 0.84 |
| 9 | 山本 | Yamamoto | 1,020,000 | 0.81 |
| 10 | 加藤 | Katō | 920,000 | 0.73 |
| 11 | 吉田 | Yoshida | 850,000 | — |
| 12 | 山田 | Yamada | 820,000 | — |
| 13 | 佐々木 | Sasaki | 710,000 | — |
| 14 | 山口 | Yamaguchi | 640,000 | — |
| 15 | 松本 | Matsumoto | 630,000 | — |
| 16 | 井上 | Inoue | 600,000 | — |
| 17 | 木村 | Kimura | 580,000 | — |
| 18 | 清水 | Shimizu | 560,000 | — |
| 19 | 林 | Hayashi | 550,000 | — |
| 20 | 斉藤 | Saitō | 530,000 | — |
| 21 | 斎藤 | Saitō | 520,000 | — |
| 22 | 山崎 | Yamazaki Yamasaki |
490,000 | — |
| 23 | 中島 | Nakajima Nakashima |
480,000 | — |
| 24 | 森 | Mori | 470,000 | — |
| 25 | 阿部 | Abe | 470,000 | — |
| 26 | 池田 | Ikeda | 450,000 | — |
| 27 | 橋本 | Hashimoto | 450,000 | — |
| 28 | 石川 | Ishikawa | 440,000 | — |
| 29 | 山下 | Yamashita | 410,000 | — |
| 30 | 小川 | Ogawa | 410,000 | — |
| 31 | 石井 | Ishii | 400,000 | — |
| 32 | 長谷川 | Hasegawa | 390,000 | — |
| 33 | 後藤 | Gotō | 390,000 | — |
| 34 | 岡田 | Okada | 380,000 | — |
| 35 | 近藤 | Kondō | 370,000 | — |
| 36 | 前田 | Maeda | 370,000 | — |
| 37 | 藤田 | Fujita | 370,000 | — |
| 38 | 遠藤 | Endō | 360,000 | — |
| 39 | 青木 | Aoki | 350,000 | — |
| 40 | 坂本 | Sakamoto | 350,000 | — |
| 41 | 村上 | Murakami | 340,000 | — |
| 42 | 太田 | Ōta | 320,000 | — |
| 43 | 金子 | Kaneko | 310,000 | — |
| 44 | 藤井 | Fujii | 310,000 | — |
| 45 | 福田 | Fukuda | 300,000 | — |
| 46 | 西村 | Nishimura | 300,000 | — |
| 47 | 三浦 | Miura | 300,000 | — |
| 48 | 竹内 | Takeuchi | 290,000 | — |
| 49 | 中川 | Nakagawa | 290,000 | — |
| 50 | 岡本 | Okamoto | 290,000 | — |
| 51 | 松田 | Matsuda | 290,000 | — |
| 52 | 原田 | Harada | 290,000 | — |
| 53 | 中野 | Nakano | 290,000 | — |
| 54 | 小野 | Ono | 280,000 | — |
| 55 | 田村 | Tamura | 280,000 | — |
| 56 | 藤原 | Fujiwara Fujihara |
270,000 | — |
| 57 | 中山 | Nakayama | 270,000 | — |
| 58 | 石田 | Ishida | 270,000 | — |
| 59 | 小島 | Kojima | 260,000 | — |
| 60 | 和田 | Wada | 260,000 | — |
| 61 | 森田 | Morita | 250,000 | — |
| 62 | 内田 | Uchida | 250,000 | — |
| 63 | 柴田 | Shibata | 250,000 | — |
| 64 | 酒井 | Sakai | 240,000 | — |
| 65 | 原 | Hara | 240,000 | — |
| 66 | 高木 | Takagi Takaki |
240,000 | — |
| 67 | 横山 | Yokoyama | 240,000 | — |
| 68 | 安藤 | Andō | 240,000 | — |
| 69 | 宮崎 | Miyazaki Miyasaki |
240,000 | — |
| 70 | 上田 | Ueda Ueta |
240,000 | — |
| 71 | 島田 | Shimada | 230,000 | — |
| 72 | 工藤 | Kudō | 230,000 | — |
| 73 | 大野 | Ōno | 220,000 | — |
| 74 | 宮本 | Miyamoto | 220,000 | — |
| 75 | 杉山 | Sugiyama | 220,000 | — |
| 76 | 今井 | Imai | 220,000 | — |
| 77 | 丸山 | Maruyama | 210,000 | — |
| 78 | 増田 | Masuda | 210,000 | — |
| 79 | 高田 | Takada Takata |
210,000 | — |
| 80 | 村田 | Murata | 210,000 | — |
| 81 | 平野 | Hirano | 210,000 | — |
| 82 | 大塚 | Ōtsuka | 210,000 | — |
| 83 | 菅原 | Sugawara Sugahara |
210,000 | — |
| 84 | 武田 | Takeda Taketa |
200,000 | — |
| 85 | 新井 | Arai | 200,000 | — |
| 86 | 小山 | Koyama Oyama |
200,000 | — |
| 87 | 野口 | Noguchi | 200,000 | — |
| 88 | 桜井 | Sakurai | 200,000 | — |
| 89 | 千葉 | Chiba | 200,000 | — |
| 90 | 岩崎 | Iwasaki | 200,000 | — |
| 91 | 佐野 | Sano | 200,000 | — |
| 92 | 谷口 | Taniguchi | 200,000 | — |
| 93 | 上野 | Ueno | 200,000 | — |
| 94 | 松井 | Matsui | 190,000 | — |
| 95 | 河野 | Kōno Kawano |
190,000 | — |
| 96 | 市川 | Ichikawa | 190,000 | — |
| 97 | 渡部 | Watanabe Watabe |
190,000 | — |
| 98 | 野村 | Nomura | 180,000 | — |
| 99 | 菊地 | Kikuchi | 180,000 | — |
| 100 | 木下 | Kinoshita | 180,000 | — |
References
- ^ 日本苗字大辞典 [Japanese Surname Dictionary]. 芳文館 [Houbunkan]. 1996. ISBN 4990058402.
- ^ Wolfgang Hadamitzky, ed. (2016). Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Surnames and How to Read Them. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110969887.
- ^ a b "明治安田生命 全国同姓調査 [Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company - National same family name investigation]" (PDF) (Press release). Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company. 2008-09-24. Retrieved 2012-05-30.