Kazuo
A masculine Japanese given name meaning "peaceful harmony".
Name Census estimates that about 61 living Americans carry the first name Kazuo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kazuo today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kazuo births was 1921 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kazuo. 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
- • The typical person named Kazuo is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Kazuos were born before 1970.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kazuo. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
61
~ 1 in 5,618,924 Americans
Peak year
1921
57 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2009 SSA rank
#10,458
Tracked since 1911
Popularity
Kazuo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kazuo from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 375 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
Kazuo 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 Kazuo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kazuos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Hawaii, California, Washington recorded the most babies named Kazuo, while Washington, California, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 200 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kazuo
Kazuo is a masculine Japanese given name. It originates from the Japanese language and has been in use since at least the 8th century AD. The name is composed of two kanji characters: "kazu" meaning number or many, and "o" meaning male or masculine.
The earliest known written records of the name Kazuo date back to the Nara period of Japanese history, from around 710-794 AD. During this time, the name likely held significance related to the desire for many sons or male offspring.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Kazuo was Kazuo Hiragishi, a Japanese samurai warrior who lived in the late 12th century. He served under the famous shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo and fought in the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans.
Another notable Kazuo from history was Kazuo Inoue, a Japanese painter and woodblock print artist who lived from 1828 to 1896. He is regarded as one of the last great masters of the ukiyo-e art form in Japan.
In the 20th century, Kazuo Ishiguro was a renowned British novelist of Japanese descent, born in 1954. He is best known for his novel "The Remains of the Day" and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2017.
Kazuo Ohno, born in 1906 and died in 2010, was a prominent Japanese dancer and choreographer. He is considered one of the founders of the butoh dance style and had a significant influence on modern dance in Japan.
Kazuo Masuda was a Japanese serial killer who committed a series of murders in the 1960s. He was convicted of killing at least five people and was executed by hanging in 1970.
While the name Kazuo has deep historical roots, it continues to be a popular given name for boys in Japan today, carrying on the cultural significance and heritage of this traditional Japanese name.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kazuo
People
Kazuo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kazuo as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kazuo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kazuo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 61 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kazuo 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 5,618,924 US residents.
Is Kazuo a common name?
We classify Kazuo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 757 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kazuo most popular?
The single biggest year for Kazuo was 1921, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kazuo is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kazuo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kazuo 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.