Kotaro
A masculine Japanese name meaning "brilliant man" or "light of the son".
Name Census estimates that about 187 living Americans carry the first name Kotaro. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kotaro today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kotaro births was 2010 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kotaro. 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 Kotaro with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
187
~ 1 in 1,832,911 Americans
Peak year
2010
15 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,307
Tracked since 1919
Census
Kotaro in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 347 people with the first name Kotaro, which placed it at #26,696 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
#26,696
National first-name rank
People counted
347
347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kotaro
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kotaro is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.2%) and Black (2.3%). 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 Kotaro 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 Kotaro at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.2% · 306
- Two or more races7.2% · 25
- Black or African American2.3% · 8
- White1.7% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 2
Popularity
Kotaro: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kotaro from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 73 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kotaro 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 Kotaro during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kotaros live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kotaro
The name Kotaro is of Japanese origin, derived from the words "ko" meaning "fragrance" or "incense" and "taro" meaning "eldest son." It is a masculine given name that has been in use for centuries in Japan.
Kotaro has its roots in the ancient Japanese tradition of using nature-inspired names, with the element "ko" representing the pleasant aroma of incense or fragrant plants. The name was often bestowed upon firstborn sons, as indicated by the "taro" component, emphasizing their importance and status within the family.
In Japanese folklore and literature, the name Kotaro appears in various tales and stories. One notable example is the legend of Kintaro, a young boy with extraordinary strength who was raised by mountain animals and later became a famous warrior. The name Kotaro is sometimes associated with this legendary figure, reflecting the qualities of strength, resilience, and a connection with nature.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Kotaro can be traced back to the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan, when it was used among the aristocratic and samurai classes. Throughout Japanese history, several prominent individuals have borne the name Kotaro.
One of the earliest recorded figures with the name Kotaro was Minamoto no Kotaro (1142-1198), a samurai warrior and military strategist who played a crucial role in the Genpei War, a conflict between the Minamoto and Taira clans for control of Japan. He was renowned for his bravery and tactical acumen.
Another notable Kotaro was Hori Kotaro (1751-1828), a renowned Japanese Confucian scholar and educator. He established the Kobunji school, which focused on the study of ancient Japanese literature and philosophy, and contributed significantly to the preservation and promotion of traditional Japanese culture.
In the realm of arts and entertainment, Kotaro Satomi (1911-1985) was a celebrated Japanese actor and filmmaker. He appeared in numerous films, plays, and television productions, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Japanese cinema.
Kotaro Matsushita (1894-1935) was a pioneering Japanese chemist who made significant contributions to the field of crystallography. His research on X-ray diffraction techniques and crystal structure analysis laid the foundation for modern crystallography.
More recently, Kotaro Fukuma (1964-) is a renowned Japanese conductor and violinist. He has served as the principal conductor of prestigious orchestras, including the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, and is celebrated for his interpretations of both classical and contemporary repertoire.
People
Kotaro + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kotaro 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
Kotaro: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kotaro?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 187 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kotaro 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 1,832,911 US residents.
Is Kotaro a common name?
We classify Kotaro as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 194 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kotaro most popular?
The single biggest year for Kotaro was 2010, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kotaro is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kotaro in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 347 people with the name Kotaro, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,696 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 Kotaro 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 Kotaro?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kotaro appears almost entirely male. Of the 351 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Kotaro?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kotaro is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.2%) and Black (2.3%). 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 Kotaro most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kotaro in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (306 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 Kotaro in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kotaro a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kotaro 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 Kotaro still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kotaro 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 Kotaro 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 Kotaro?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.