Japanese first and Last names

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    • Oct 11, 2009

    America may have around a million surnames and Finland the most in the world in proportion to its population, but with more than 100,000 family names now in use in Japan, this country puts Chinas few thousand and Koreas mere 200 firmly in the name-game shade.

    Here, in descending order, are the top 100 most common Japanese family names these days followed by a list of the five most commonly occurring ones in each of the countrys 47 prefectures.

    1. Sato
    2. Suzuki
    3. Takahashi
    4. Tanaka
    5. Watanabe
    6. Ito
    7. Yamamoto
    8. Nakamura
    9. Kobayashi
    10. Kato
    11. Yoshida
    12. Yamada
    13. Sasaki
    14. Yamaguchi
    15. Saito
    16. Matsumoto
    17. Inoue
    18. Kimura
    19. Hayashi
    20. Shimizu
    21. Yamazaki
    22. Mori
    23. Abe
    24. Ikeda
    25. Hashimoto
    26. Yamashita
    27. Ishikawa
    28. Nakajima
    29. Maeda
    30. Fujita
    31. Ogawa
    32. Goto
    33. Okada
    34. Hasegawa
    35. Murakami
    36. Kondo
    37. Ishii
    38. Saito (different kanji)
    39. Sakamoto
    40. Endo
    41. Aoki
    42. Fujii
    43. Nishimura
    44. Fukuda
    45. Ota
    46. Miura
    47. Fujiwara
    48. Okamoto
    49. Matsuda
    50. Nakagawa
    51. Nakano
    52. Harada
    53. Ono
    54. Tamura
    55. Takeuchi
    56. Kaneko
    57. Wada
    58. Nakayama
    59. Ishida
    60. Ueda
    61. Morita
    62. Hara
    63. Shibata
    64. Sakai
    65. Kudo
    66. Yokoyama
    67. Miyazaki
    68. Miyamoto
    69. Uchida
    70. Takagi
    71. Ando
    72. Taniguchi
    73. Ohno
    74. Maruyama
    75. Imai
    76. Takada
    77. Fujimoto
    78. Takeda
    79. Murata
    80. Ueno
    81. Sugiyama
    82. Masuda
    83. Sugawara
    84. Hirano
    85. Kojima
    86. Otsuka
    87. Chiba
    88. Kubo
    89. Matsui
    90. Iwasaki
    91. Sakurai
    92. Kinoshita
    93. Noguchi
    94. Matsuo
    95. Nomura
    96. Kikuchi
    97. Sano
    98. Onishi
    99. Sugimoto
    100. Arai

    • Most common Japanese family names by prefecture

    Sato

    Suzuki

    Takahashi

    Tanaka

    Watanabe

    Ito

    Yamamoto

    Nakamura

    Kobayashi

    Kato

    Yoshida

    Yamada

    Sasaki

    Yamaguchi

    Saito

    Matsumoto

    Inoue

    Kimura

    Hayashi

    Shimizu

    Yamazaki

    Mori

    Abe

    Ikeda

    Hashimoto

    Yamashita

    Ishikawa

    Nakajima

    Maeda

    Fujita

    Ogawa

    Goto

    Okada

    Hasegawa

    Murakami

    Kondo

    Ishii

    Saito (different kanji)

    Sakamoto

    Endo

    Aoki

    Fujii

    Nishimura

    Fukuda

    Ota

    Miura

    Fujiwara

    Okamoto

    Matsuda

    Nakagawa

    Nakano

    Harada

    Ono

    Tamura

    Takeuchi

    Kaneko

    Wada

    Nakayama

    Ishida

    Ueda

    Morita

    Hara

    Shibata

    Sakai

    Kudo

    Yokoyama

    Miyazaki

    Miyamoto

    Uchida

    Takagi

    Ando

    Taniguchi

    Ohno

    Maruyama

    Imai

    Takada

    Fujimoto

    Takeda

    Murata

    Ueno

    Sugiyama

    Masuda

    Sugawara

    Hirano

    Kojima

    Otsuka

    Chiba

    Kubo

    Matsui

    Iwasaki

    Sakurai

    Kinoshita

    Noguchi

    Matsuo

    Nomura

    Kikuchi

    Sano

    Onishi

    Sugimoto

    Arai

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