List of Japanese Surnames 200+ Origin and Meanings

Looking for a list of Japanese surnames? What are the most common Japanese surnames? Do you know the meaning of the main surnames? Why do Japanese people usually have only two names? Why does the surname come first in Japan? These and other questions will be answered in this article.

The History of Japanese Surnames

Do you know the history of Japanese surnames? Not long ago, during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), common people did not have surnames. Only people in positions such as nobility, artists, and clan leaders did.

Sometimes some warriors, doctors, monks, and merchants managed to acquire a surname by purchasing one. Common people were identified by their profession or location; merchants often used the name of their shop as identification or a surname.

How did people differentiate themselves from one another?

If in a city two people are named Souta, the one living in the mountain would end up being called Yamamoto no Souta, which literally means Souta from the foot of the mountain 山本 (foot of the mountain). This is yet another reason why the surname comes before the first name.

For this reason, Japanese names and surnames tend to be simple and have common meanings that identify personality, family origin, the place they lived, their social class, and history.

Moreover, the ideograms help Japanese names to be more complex, allowing various ways to read an ideogram and write using other ideograms. Not to mention that a name can have multiple meanings thanks to kanji.

Research reveals that there are between 100,000 to 300,000 surnames in Japan, making it one of the countries with the highest number of surnames in the world. This seems ironic, because the Japanese language has few syllables compared to other languages.

Examples of Origins of Japanese Surnames

As mentioned, many Japanese surnames referred to specific locations or characteristics about a particular family. Here are some popular examples:

• Derived from the name of the place – Watanabe, Takahashi, Sasaki, Ishikawa, Hasegawa, Miura, Chiba..;
• Derived from topography and landscape – Yamamoto, Yamada, Mori, Ikeda..;
• Derived from directional or positional relation – Minami, Kita, Tatsumi..;
• Derived from occupation – Hattori, Shoji, Tokairin, Inukai, Ukai, Kobun..;

Myouji – Family Name in Japanese

Surnames or family names in Japanese are called myouji [名字 or 苗字], sometimes referred to as sei [姓]. In the past, the surname in Japanese was called naazana [名字]. Below are some related words that can help expand your Japanese vocabulary:

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
同姓	dousei	Same surname
元姓	gensei	Previous, original surname
他姓	tasei	Another surname
異姓	isei	Different surname
宮号	miyagou	Imperial surname
漢姓	kansei	Chinese surname
名前	namae	First name
ラストネーム	rasutoneemu	Last Name
家名	Kamei	Family name, house

The Most Common Surnames in Japan

The most common surname in Japan is Satou, with more than 1,928,000 people having this surname. Satou is mainly written with the ideograms [佐藤], which together mean wisteria field. Below you can see a list of the 10 most common surnames in all of Japan, the number of people who have that surname, and its meaning.

	Surname	Population	Ideogram	Meaning
1	Satou	1,928,000	佐藤	Wisteria field
2	Suzuki	1,707,000	鈴木	Bell tree
3	Takahashi	1,416,000	高橋	Long bridge
4	Tanaka	1,336,000	田中	In the middle of the rice field
5	Watanabe	1,134,000	渡辺 / 渡邊	To cross over
6	Itou	1,080,000	伊藤	Wisteria of Ise
7	Yamamoto	1,077,000	山本	Person from the mountain
8	Nakamura	1,059,000	中村	Inside the village
9	Kobayashi	1,019,000	小林	Small forest
10	Saitou	980,000	斉藤 / 斎藤	Affecting wisteria.

The first ideogram of the name Saitou (斉) can be used to refer to a meal made by monks and priests. It also conveys an image of purity and divine worship.

It is worth remembering that Japanese names often represent their meaning in reverse. The ideograms can be written in the order High (高) Bridge (橋) but mean High Bridge (or Long Bridge). And we cannot always take the literal meaning of the ideogram.

Are Surnames Nicknames?

As we can see throughout this article, surnames are practically nicknames, since the definition is to expose a person’s characteristic in an affectionate or pejorative way. Japanese surnames are basically a characteristic of the person and the place where they live.

Since Japanese names are practically nicknames, how do Japanese people usually call each other affectionately? This happens by making alterations to the name or adding suffixes.

If you want to know more about Japanese Nicknames, we suggest reading our complete article by clicking the following: >> All about Japanese Nicknames!

List of 200 Common Surnames in Japan

Below we will provide a small list of the 200 most common names in the Japanese language. This list was shared by the website Studiare Giapponese and is in alphabetical order.

Kanji	Romaji	Meaning
阿部	Abe	Pleasant Group
秋山	Akiyama	Autumn Mountain
安藤	Andou	Tranquil Wisteria
青木	Aoki	Green Tree
青山	Aoyama	Blue/Green Mountain
新井荒井	Arai	New WellNew Residence
荒木	Araki	Wild Tree
浅野淺野	Asano	Shallow Plain
馬場	Baba	Horse Riding Land
千葉	Chiba	Thousand Leaves
遠藤	Endou	Distant Wisteria
藤井	Fujii	Wisteria Well
藤本	Fujimoto	Origin of Wisteria
藤田	Fujita	Wisteria Plantation
藤原	Fujiwara	Wisteria Field
福田	Fukuda	Lucky Rice Field
福井	Fukui	Good Luck Well
福島	Fukushima	Island of Good Luck
古川	Furukawa	Old River
後藤	Gotou	Behind the Wisteria
萩原	Hagiwara	Clover Plain
浜田	Hamada	Beach Rice Field
原	Hara	Field
原田	Harada	Plantation in the Field
長谷川	Hasegawa	Long river running through the valley
橋本	Hashimoto	Base/Origin of the Bridge
服部	Hattori	Alliance Clothes
早川	Hayakawa	Fast River
林	Hayashi	Forest
樋口	Higuchi	Water Spout
平井	Hirai	Well Placid
平野	Hirano	Flat Field
平田	Hirata	Peaceful Rice Field
広瀬廣瀬	Hirose	Wide and Shallow
本田	Honda	Original Rice Field
本間	Honma	Name of a clan that ruled the province of Sado
堀	Hori	Ditch
星野	Hoshino	Field of Stars
市川	Ichikawa	City River
五十嵐	Igarashi	Fifty Storms
飯田	Iida	Cooked Rice Husk
池田	Ikeda	Plantation with Pond
今井	Imai	Current Well
井上	Inoue	Above the Well
石橋	Ishibashi	Stone Bridge
石田	Ishida	Rocky Plantation
石原	Ishihara	Rocky Plain
石井	Ishii	Stone Well
石川	Ishikawa	Rocky River
伊藤	Itou	Wisteria of Ise (city of Mie)
岩本	Iwamoto	Base of the Rock
岩崎	Iwasaki	End of the Rock
岩田	Iwata	Rocky Rice Plantation
鎌田	Kamata	Sickle Rice Field
金子	Kaneko	Fortunate Child
片山	Katayama	Single Mountain
加藤	Katou	Wisteria of Kaga (Old name of Ishikawa)
川口	Kawaguchi	River Entrance
川上	Kawakami	Above the river
川村	Kawamura	River Village
川波	Kawanami	River Wave
川崎	Kawasaki	End of the River
菊地菊池	Kikuchi	Land of ChrysanthemumsChrysanthemum Pond
木村	Kimura	Village with Trees
木下	Kinoshita	Under the Tree
北村	Kitamura	North Village
小林	Kobayashi	Small Forest
小池	Koike	Small Pond
小島	Kojima	Small Island
小松	Komatsu	Small Pine
近藤	Kondou	Near the Wisteria
小西	Konishi	Small West
河野	Kouno (Kawano)	River with plain
小山	Koyama	Small Mountain
久保	Kubo	Uneven Land
久保田	Kubota	Rice Plantation with uneven land
工藤	Kudou	Skillful Wisteria
熊谷	Kumagai	Bear Valley
栗原	Kurihara	Chestnut Plain
黒田	Kuroda	Black Rice Field
前田	Maeda	In front of the Rice Field
丸山	Maruyama	Round Mountain
増田	Masuda	Expanded Plantation
松原	Matsubara	Pine Plain
松田	Matsuda	Rice Field with Pine
松井	Matsui	Pine Well
松本	Matsumoto	Base of the Pine
松村	Matsumura	Pine Village
松尾	Matsuo	Pine Tail
松岡	Matsuoka	Pine Hill
松下	Matsushita	Under the pine
松浦	Matsuura	Pine Bay
南	Minami	South
三浦	Miura	Three Bays
三宅	Miyake	Three Houses
宮本	Miyamoto	Origin of the Temple/Palace
宮田	Miyata	Rice Plantation of the Sanctuary
宮崎	Miyazaki	End of the Temple/Palace
水野	Mizuno	Water Field
望月	Mochizuki	Full Moon
森	Mori	Forest
森本	Morimoto	Base of the Forest
森田	Morita	Plantation in the Forest
村上	Murakami	Above the village
村田	Murata	Plantation of the Village
長井永井	Nagai	Very LongForever
長田永田	Nagata	Long Rice Field
内藤	Naitou	Interior Wisteria
中川	Nakagawa	Central River
中島	NakajimaNakashima	Central Island
中村	Nakamura	Middle of the village
中西	Nakanishi	Center of the West
中野	Nakano	Central Field
中田	NakataNakada	Central Rice Field
中山	Nakayama	Inside the Mountain
成田	Narita	Formation of the Rice Field
西田	Nishida	Rice Plantation of the West
西川	Nishikawa	River of the West
西村	Nishimura	West Village
西山	Nishiyama	West Mountain
西沢	Nishizawa	West Marsh
野田	Noda	Rice Plantation in the Field
野口	Noguchi	Field Entrance
野村	Nomura	Field Village
小田	Oda	Small Rice Plantation
小川	Ogawa	Small River
岡田	Okada	Hill Rice Field
岡本	Okamoto	Base of the Hill
岡崎	Okazaki	Hill of the Cape
奥村	Okumura	Isolated Village
小野	Ono	Small Field
大橋	Oohashi	Big Bridge
大石	Ooishi	Big Stone
大久保	Ookubo	Big Hollow
大森	Oomori	Big Help
大西	Oonishi	Big West
大野	Oono	Big Plain
大沢大澤	Oosawa	Big Marsh
大島	Ooshima	Big Island
太田	Oota	Fertile Rice Field
大谷	Ootani	Big Valley
大塚	Ootsuka	Big Ancient Mound
尾崎	Ozaki	End of the Cape
小沢小澤	Ozawa	Small Marsh
斎藤齋藤	Saitou	Affecting Wisteria
斎藤 / 齋藤	Saitou	Affecting Wisteria
酒井	Sakai	Sake Well
坂本	Sakamoto	Bottom of the Descent
桜井櫻井	Sakurai	Cherry Blossom Well
佐野	Sano	Small Field
佐々木	Sasaki	Support Tree
佐藤	Satou	Wisteria Field
沢田	Sawada	Rice Plantation in the Marsh
関／關	Seki	Barrier/Gate
柴田	Shibata	Plantation with Twigs
島田	Shimada	Island Plantation
清水	Shimizu	Pure Water
篠原	Shinohara	Bamboo Grass Plain
菅原	Sugawara	Rush Field
杉本	Sugimoto	Origin of Cedar
杉山	Sugiyama	Cedar Mountain
須藤	SutouSudou	Mandatory Wisteria
鈴木	Suzuki	Bell Tree
田口	Taguchi	Entrance to the Rice Field
高田	TakadaTakata	High Plantation
高木	Takagi	High Tree
高橋	Takahashi	High Bridge
高野	Takano	High Field
高山	Takayama	High Mountain
武田	Takeda	Warrior’s Rice Field
竹内	Takeuchi	Inside the Bamboo Grove
田村	Tamura	Village with Rice Field
田辺田邊	Tanabe	Next to the rice plantation
田中	Tanaka	Middle of the rice field
谷口	Taniguchi	Opening of the Valley
土屋	Tsuchiya	Clay House
辻	Tsuji	Crossroads (Transverse Road)
内田	Uchida	Inside the Plantation
内山	Uchiyama	Inside the Mountain
上田	UedaUeta	Top/Upper Plantation
上野	Ueno	On top of the Plain
和田	Wada	Harmonious Plantation
渡辺	Watanabe	Crossing by the edge
山田	Yamada	Mountain Rice Field
山口	Yamaguchi	Opening to the Mountain
山本	Yamamoto	Base of the mountain
山中	Yamanaka	Center of the Mountain
山下	Yamashita	Under the Mountain
山内	Yamauchi	Inside the Mountain
山崎	YamazakiYamasaki	End of the Mountain
矢野	Yano	Eighth Field
安田	Yasuda	Cheap Rice Field
横田	Yokota	Rice Field Next to
横山	Yokoyama	Next to the Mountain
吉田	Yoshida	Auspicious Plantation
吉川	Yoshikawa	Auspicious River
吉村	Yoshimura	Auspicious Village
吉岡	Yoshioka	Auspicious Hill

How can I discover the meaning of my name?

We recommend using an online dictionary like jisho to look up the various meanings of each ideogram and try to create a relationship between the two. It is worth remembering that Japanese names can have different pronunciations and ideograms, so do not rely on a list without knowing how to write your name.

If you want to delve deeper into Japanese names, we recommend a Japanese Names Dictionary from JBC (click for details). We will leave a video explaining how you can discover the meanings of Japanese names on your own: