Kentaro
A masculine Japanese name meaning "healthy, robust son".
Name Census estimates that about 338 living Americans carry the first name Kentaro. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kentaro today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kentaro births was 1995 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kentaro. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Kentaro with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
338
~ 1 in 1,014,066 Americans
Peak year
1995
18 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2019 SSA rank
#13,173
Tracked since 1974
Census
Kentaro in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 543 people with the first name Kentaro, which placed it at #19,460 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,460
National first-name rank
People counted
543
543 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
72.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kentaro
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kentaro is Asian/Pacific Islander at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (20.8%) and Black (2.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Kentaro described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Kentaro at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander72.7% · 395
- Two or more races20.8% · 113
- Black or African American2.6% · 14
- White2.0% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Kentaro: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kentaro from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 111 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kentaro remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kentaro 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 Kentaro during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kentaros live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kentaro
Kentaro is a masculine Japanese given name with roots dating back to the 8th century. The name is derived from the Japanese words "ken" meaning "healthy" or "vigorous", and "taro" being a generic suffix used in Japanese masculine names. Originating in Japan, the name gained popularity during the early Heian period between the years 794-1185 AD.
One of the earliest known records of the name Kentaro appears in the Kojiki, an ancient chronicle of Japanese history dating back to 712 AD. The Kojiki mentions a prince named Kentaro who was the son of Emperor Ojin, making him part of the imperial family line during the 4th century.
In medieval Japanese literature, the name Kentaro is found in the epic tale of the Heike Monogatari from the late 12th century. This famous work details the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans, and includes a minor character bearing the name Kentaro.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable individuals carrying the given name Kentaro. One of the earliest was Kentaro Hayashi (1786-1859), a prominent Confucian scholar and educator who helped establish the Shoheiko school in Edo (modern-day Tokyo).
Another famous Kentaro was Kentaro Kaneko (1853-1942), a pioneering Japanese chemist and one of the founders of the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He made significant contributions to the field of industrial chemistry and played a key role in developing Japan's modern chemical industry.
In the realm of Japanese politics, Kentaro Suzuki (1868-1948) was a prominent statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1944 to 1945, during the final months of World War II. He advocated for peace negotiations with the Allied Powers and ultimately authorized Japan's surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The name Kentaro has also been associated with notable figures in Japanese arts and culture. Kentaro Miura (1966-2021) was a renowned manga artist best known for his dark fantasy series Berserk, which has gained a cult following worldwide.
Lastly, Kentaro Matsumoto (born 1986) is a contemporary Japanese professional wrestler currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He has won numerous championships and is regarded as one of the top talents in the promotion.
People
Kentaro + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kentaro 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
Kentaro: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kentaro?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 338 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kentaro 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 1,014,066 US residents.
Is Kentaro a common name?
We classify Kentaro as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 346 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kentaro most popular?
The single biggest year for Kentaro was 1995, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kentaro is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kentaro in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 543 people with the name Kentaro, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,460 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Kentaro in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Kentaro?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kentaro appears almost entirely male. Of the 542 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Kentaro?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kentaro is Asian/Pacific Islander at 72.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (20.8%) and Black (2.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Kentaro most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kentaro in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.7% (395 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Kentaro in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kentaro a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kentaro 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.
Is Kentaro still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kentaro in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Kentaro can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are named Kentaro?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.