Most common surnames in Japan
The top 98 family names, ranked by how many people carry them.
| Rank | Surname | Native script | Origin & meaning | People |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sato | 佐藤 · Satō | Japanese | 1,798,000 |
| 2 | Suzuki | 鈴木 · Suzuki | Japanese · “bell tree” | 1,745,000 |
| 3 | Takahashi | 高橋 · Takahashi | Japanese · “high bridge” | 1,361,000 |
| 4 | Tanaka | 田中 · Tanaka | Japanese · “middle of the rice field” | 1,293,000 |
| 5 | Ito | 伊藤 · Itō | Japanese | 1,037,000 |
| 6 | Watanabe | 渡辺 · Watanabe | Japanese | 1,028,000 |
| 7 | Yamamoto | 山本 · Yamamoto | Japanese · “base of the mountain” | 1,013,000 |
| 8 | Nakamura | 中村 · Nakamura | Japanese · “middle village” | 1,011,000 |
| 9 | Kobayashi | 小林 · Kobayashi | Japanese · “small forest” | 996,000 |
| 10 | Kato | 加藤 · Katō | Japanese | 861,000 |
| 11 | Yoshida | 吉田 · Yoshida | Japanese | 801,000 |
| 12 | Yamada | 山田 · Yamada | Japanese · “mountain rice field” | 787,000 |
| 13 | Sasaki | 佐々木 · Sasaki | Japanese | 644,000 |
| 14 | Yamaguchi | 山口 · Yamaguchi | Japanese · “mountain entrance” | 622,000 |
| 15 | Matsumoto | 松本 · Matsumoto | Japanese · “base of the pine tree” | 606,000 |
| 16 | Inoue | 井上 · Inoue | Japanese · “above the well” | 595,000 |
| 17 | Kimura | 木村 · Kimura | Japanese · “tree village” | 556,000 |
| 18 | Hayashi | 林 · Hayashi | Japanese · “forest” | 528,000 |
| 19 | Saito | 斎藤 · Saitō | Japanese | 524,000 |
| 20 | Shimizu | 清水 · Shimizu | Japanese · “pure water” | 516,000 |
| 21 | Yamazaki | 山崎 · Yamazaki | Japanese | 466,000 |
| 22 | Mori | 森 · Mori | Japanese | 450,000 |
| 23 | Ikeda | 池田 · Ikeda | Japanese | 435,000 |
| 24 | Hashimoto | 橋本 · Hashimoto | Japanese | 433,000 |
| 25 | Abe | 阿部 · Abe | Japanese | 425,000 |
| 26 | Ishikawa | 石川 · Ishikawa | Japanese | 414,000 |
| 27 | Yamashita | 山下 · Yamashita | Japanese | 403,000 |
| 28 | Nakajima | 中島 · Nakajima | Japanese | 388,000 |
| 29 | Ishii | 石井 · Ishii | Japanese | 387,000 |
| 30 | Ogawa | 小川 · Ogawa | Japanese | 384,000 |
| 31 | Maeda | 前田 · Maeda | Japanese | 367,000 |
| 32 | Okada | 岡田 · Okada | Japanese | 367,000 |
| 33 | Hasegawa | 長谷川 · Hasegawa | Japanese | 365,000 |
| 34 | Fujita | 藤田 · Fujita | Japanese | 360,000 |
| 35 | Goto | 後藤 · Gotō | Japanese | 358,000 |
| 36 | Kondo | 近藤 · Kondō | Japanese | 357,000 |
| 37 | Murakami | 村上 · Murakami | Japanese | 341,000 |
| 38 | Endo | 遠藤 · Endō | Japanese | 321,000 |
| 39 | Aoki | 青木 · Aoki | Japanese | 319,000 |
| 40 | Sakamoto | 坂本 · Sakamoto | Japanese | 314,000 |
| 42 | Fukuda | 福田 · Fukuda | Japanese | 301,000 |
| 43 | Ota | 太田 · Ōta | Japanese | 299,000 |
| 44 | Nishimura | 西村 · Nishimura | Japanese | 297,000 |
| 45 | Fujii | 藤井 · Fujii | Japanese | 296,000 |
| 46 | Kaneko | 金子 · Kaneko | Japanese | 288,000 |
| 47 | Okamoto | 岡本 · Okamoto | Japanese | 286,000 |
| 48 | Fujiwara | 藤原 · Fujiwara | Japanese | 284,000 |
| 49 | Nakano | 中野 · Nakano | Japanese | 284,000 |
| 50 | Miura | 三浦 · Miura | Japanese | 282,000 |
| 51 | Harada | 原田 · Harada | Japanese | 280,000 |
| 52 | Nakagawa | 中川 · Nakagawa | Japanese | 280,000 |
| 53 | Matsuda | 松田 · Matsuda | Japanese | 278,000 |
| 54 | Takeuchi | 竹内 · Takeuchi | Japanese | 277,000 |
| 55 | Ono | 小野 · Ono | Japanese | 269,000 |
| 56 | Tamura | 田村 · Tamura | Japanese | 269,000 |
| 57 | Nakayama | 中山 · Nakayama | Japanese | 260,000 |
| 58 | Wada | 和田 · Wada | Japanese | 257,000 |
| 59 | Ishida | 石田 · Ishida | Japanese | 256,000 |
| 60 | Morita | 森田 · Morita | Japanese | 252,000 |
| 61 | Ueda | 上田 · Ueda | Japanese | 238,000 |
| 62 | Uchida | 内田 · Uchida | Japanese | 238,000 |
| 63 | Hara | 原 · Hara | Japanese | 238,000 |
| 64 | Shibata | 柴田 · Shibata | Japanese | 234,000 |
| 65 | Sakai | 酒井 · Sakai | Japanese | 232,000 |
| 66 | Miyazaki | 宮崎 · Miyazaki | Japanese | 229,000 |
| 67 | Yokoyama | 横山 · Yokoyama | Japanese | 228,000 |
| 68 | Takagi | 高木 · Takagi | Japanese | 226,000 |
| 69 | Ando | 安藤 · Andō | Japanese | 224,000 |
| 70 | Miyamoto | 宮本 · Miyamoto | Japanese | 220,000 |
| 72 | Kojima | 小島 · Kojima | Japanese | 211,000 |
| 73 | Taniguchi | 谷口 · Taniguchi | Japanese | 207,000 |
| 74 | Imai | 今井 · Imai | Japanese | 206,000 |
| 75 | Kudo | 工藤 · Kudō | Japanese | 203,000 |
| 76 | Takada | 高田 · Takada | Japanese | 202,000 |
| 77 | Masuda | 増田 · Masuda | Japanese | 202,000 |
| 78 | Maruyama | 丸山 · Maruyama | Japanese | 201,000 |
| 79 | Sugiyama | 杉山 · Sugiyama | Japanese | 200,000 |
| 80 | Arai | 新井 · Arai | Japanese | 199,000 |
| 81 | Murata | 村田 · Murata | Japanese | 199,000 |
| 82 | Otsuka | 大塚 · Ōtsuka | Japanese | 199,000 |
| 83 | Koyama | 小山 · Koyama | Japanese | 197,000 |
| 84 | Hirano | 平野 · Hirano | Japanese | 197,000 |
| 85 | Fujimoto | 藤本 · Fujimoto | Japanese | 195,000 |
| 86 | Noguchi | 野口 · Noguchi | Japanese | 193,000 |
| 87 | Kono | 河野 · Kōno | Japanese | 193,000 |
| 88 | Ueno | 上野 · Ueno | Japanese | 193,000 |
| 89 | Takeda | 武田 · Takeda | Japanese | 191,000 |
| 90 | Matsui | 松井 · Matsui | Japanese | 187,000 |
| 91 | Iwasaki | 岩崎 · Iwasaki | Japanese | 185,000 |
| 92 | Chiba | 千葉 · Chiba | Japanese | 185,000 |
| 93 | Sugawara | 菅原 · Sugawara | Japanese | 183,000 |
| 94 | Kinoshita | 木下 · Kinoshita | Japanese | 181,000 |
| 95 | Kubo | 久保 · Kubo | Japanese | 180,000 |
| 96 | Nomura | 野村 · Nomura | Japanese | 179,000 |
| 97 | Sano | 佐野 · Sano | Japanese | 179,000 |
| 98 | Matsuo | 松尾 · Matsuo | Japanese | 176,000 |
| 99 | Ichikawa | 市川 · Ichikawa | Japanese | 176,000 |
| 100 | Sugimoto | 杉本 · Sugimoto | Japanese | 175,000 |
Source: Myoji-yurai.net (名字由来net) national surname ranking. Rankings are updated when the publisher releases new data.
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