Isamu
A Japanese masculine name with meanings related to courage or honor.
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Isamu. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Isamu today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Isamu births was 1922 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Isamu. 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 Isamu. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
1922
40 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,363
Tracked since 1912
Popularity
Isamu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Isamu 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 295 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
Isamu 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 Isamu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Isamus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Isamu
The name Isamu is derived from the Japanese language and has its origins in the 8th century AD. It is composed of the characters "isa," meaning courage or bravery, and "mu," meaning protector or village. Therefore, the name Isamu can be interpreted as "brave protector" or "guardian of the village."
During the Nara period (710-784 AD) in Japan, the name Isamu gained popularity among the aristocratic class and samurai warriors. It was a name often bestowed upon sons in the hopes that they would grow up to be courageous and honorable protectors of their families and communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Isamu can be found in the Shoku Nihongi, an imperial chronicle completed in 797 AD. The text mentions an individual named Isamu no Sukune, who served as a high-ranking official during the reign of Emperor Kammu (737-806 AD).
Throughout Japanese history, several notable figures have borne the name Isamu. Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was a renowned American sculptor and artist of Japanese descent, known for his abstract sculptures and public installations. Isamu Akasaki (1929-2021) was a Japanese physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014 for his work on energy-efficient LED lighting.
Isamu Chō (1895-1945) was a Japanese writer and poet who gained fame for his literary works depicting life in rural Japan. Isamu Kondō (1834-1868) was a prominent samurai and military commander who played a crucial role in the Boshin War, which led to the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate and the restoration of imperial rule.
Isamu Yoshii (1886-1960) was a Japanese painter and printmaker known for his ukiyo-e woodblock prints, which depicted traditional Japanese life and landscapes. His works have been exhibited in major museums around the world and are highly regarded in the art community.
People
Isamu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Isamu 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
Isamu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Isamu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Isamu 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 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Isamu a common name?
We classify Isamu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 562 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Isamu most popular?
The single biggest year for Isamu was 1922, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Isamu is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Isamu a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Isamu 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.