Ichiro
A masculine Japanese name meaning "first son" or "first-born child".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Ichiro. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ichiro today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ichiro births was 1920 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ichiro. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ichiro. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
1920
21 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,250
Tracked since 1915
Popularity
Ichiro: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ichiro from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 130 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ichiro by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Ichiro during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ichiros live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ichiro
The name Ichiro has its origins in Japanese culture. It is a combination of the Japanese words "ichi" meaning "first" and "ro" meaning "son". The name is thought to have emerged in the 8th century AD, during the Nara period of Japanese history.
Ichiro was initially a popular name among the samurai warrior class and noble families in feudal Japan. It was seen as a strong and honorable name, expressing the hope that the child would be the firstborn son and heir.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ichiro can be found in the Shoku Nihongi, an early 9th century imperial chronicle. It mentions an imperial prince named Ichiro who lived during the late 8th century.
In the 12th century, the famous warrior and samurai Ichiro Yoshitsune achieved legendary status for his military exploits during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans. He was born in 1159 and died in 1189.
Another notable figure named Ichiro was Ichiro Teraki, a 16th century Buddhist monk and poet. He was renowned for his haiku poetry and is considered one of the great masters of the form. Ichiro Teraki lived from 1532 to 1608.
In the 19th century, Ichiro Fukuzawa was a prominent Japanese author, writer, and founder of Keio University. He played a key role in the modernization of Japan during the Meiji era. Ichiro Fukuzawa was born in 1835 and died in 1901.
One of the most famous people named Ichiro in modern times is Ichiro Suzuki, the legendary Japanese baseball player. He had an illustrious career in both Japanese and American professional baseball, setting numerous records. Ichiro Suzuki was born in 1973 and retired in 2019.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ichiro
People
Ichiro + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ichiro as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ichiro: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ichiro?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ichiro going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Ichiro a common name?
We classify Ichiro as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 286 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ichiro most popular?
The single biggest year for Ichiro was 1920, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ichiro is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ichiro a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ichiro in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.