Masami
A feminine Japanese name meaning beautiful and truth.
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Masami. It is a predominantly male name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Masami today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Masami births was 1917 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Masami. 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 Masami. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
1917
35 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1936 SSA rank
#3,404
Tracked since 1912
Census
Masami in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 767 people with the first name Masami, which placed it at #15,110 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
#15,110
National first-name rank
People counted
767
767 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
91.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Masami
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Masami is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.7%) and White (1.0%). 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 Masami 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 Masami at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander91.4% · 701
- Two or more races5.7% · 44
- White1.0% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 7
- Black or African American0.7% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Masami
Masami leans heavily male at 96.6% of total registrations, but 10 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Masami as a male name
- Ranked #3,404 in 1936
- 6 male births in 1936
- Peak: 1917 (35 births)
Masami as a female name
- Ranked #16,776 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Masami on both sides of the split. Of the 771 people counted with this name, 205 were male (26.6%) and 566 were female (73.4%).
Popularity
Masami: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Masami from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 147 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
Masami 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 Masami during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Masamis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Masami
The name Masami is a Japanese given name that has its origins in the late 8th century AD. It is a combination of the Japanese words "masa," meaning "true" or "righteous," and "mi," meaning "beautiful" or "elegant." The name can be interpreted to mean "true beauty" or "righteous elegance."
While the name Masami does not appear in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used in Japan for centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Masami dates back to the late 12th century, when a prominent samurai warrior named Masami Hojo lived during the Kamakura period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Masami. One such person was Masami Iwasaki (1910-1988), a renowned Japanese businessman and industrialist who served as the president of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from 1964 to 1976.
Another famous Masami was Masami Tsuda (1932-2021), a Japanese engineer and academic who made significant contributions to the field of robotics and automation. He was a professor emeritus at Waseda University and received numerous accolades, including the prestigious IEEE Robotics and Automation Award.
In the realm of arts and culture, Masami Teraoka (born 1936) is a notable Japanese-American artist known for his provocative and satirical paintings that blend traditional Japanese woodblock print styles with contemporary themes.
Masami Lippit (1926-2003) was a Japanese-American actress and singer who appeared in several Hollywood films and television shows during the 1950s and 1960s, including the popular sitcom "Bachelor Father."
Masami Akita (born 1972), better known by his stage name Merzbow, is a prominent Japanese noise musician and a pioneering figure in the field of experimental music. His prolific output and influential work have earned him a dedicated following worldwide.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Masami, highlighting its enduring presence and significance within Japanese culture and beyond.
People
Masami + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Masami as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Masami: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Masami?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Masami 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Masami a common name?
We classify Masami as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 298 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Masami most popular?
The single biggest year for Masami was 1917, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Masami is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Masami in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 767 people with the name Masami, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,110 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 Masami 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 Masami?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Masami on both sides of the split. Of the 771 people counted with this name, 205 were male (26.6%) and 566 were female (73.4%). 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 Masami?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Masami is Asian/Pacific Islander at 91.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.7%) and White (1.0%). 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 Masami most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Masami in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.4% (701 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 Masami in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Masami a male name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Masami 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 Masami still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Masami 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 Masami 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 share the name Masami?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.