Miyuki
A feminine Japanese name meaning "deep snow" or "beautiful snow".
Name Census estimates that about 273 living Americans carry the first name Miyuki. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Miyuki today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Miyuki births was 1924 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Miyuki. 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 Miyuki with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
273
~ 1 in 1,255,510 Americans
Peak year
1924
14 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,664
Tracked since 1919
Census
Miyuki in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,456 people with the first name Miyuki, which placed it at #9,509 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
#9,509
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,456 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
86.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Miyuki
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miyuki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.6%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Miyuki 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 Miyuki at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander86.3% · 1,257
- Two or more races6.6% · 96
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 77
- White1.4% · 21
- Black or African American0.3% · 5
Popularity
Miyuki: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Miyuki from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Miyuki remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Miyuki 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 Miyuki during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Miyukis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Miyuki
The given name Miyuki has its origins in the Japanese language and culture, with a documented history dating back several centuries. The name is comprised of two distinct Japanese words - "mi" meaning "beautiful" and "yuki" meaning "snow" or "happiness," thus conveying a poetic meaning of "beautiful snow" or "beautiful happiness."
In ancient Japan, the name Miyuki was particularly popular among the noble and aristocratic classes, often bestowed upon daughters born during the winter months or on auspicious snowy days. Early references to the name can be found in classical Japanese literature, such as the Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji), a renowned work of fiction written in the early 11th century by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Miyuki was Miyuki Sohma, a talented court lady and renowned calligrapher who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Her exquisite calligraphic works, preserved in various collections, are considered masterpieces of Japanese artistic expression.
In the 15th century, Miyuki Matsunaga, a celebrated Buddhist nun and poet, gained widespread recognition for her spiritual teachings and poetic compositions. Her influential works, which often explored themes of nature and the transient beauty of life, have been studied and revered by scholars and literary enthusiasts for generations.
During the Edo period (1603–1868), Miyuki Tokugawa, a member of the powerful Tokugawa shogunate family, made her mark as a skilled diplomat and negotiator. Her diplomatic efforts helped maintain peaceful relations between the shogunate and various feudal domains, contributing to political stability during a tumultuous era.
In more recent times, Miyuki Miyabe, born in 1960, has achieved international acclaim as a celebrated mystery and science fiction author. Her novels, which blend elements of traditional Japanese culture with modern storylines, have been translated into numerous languages and have garnered critical acclaim worldwide.
These are just a few examples of the rich legacy associated with the given name Miyuki, a name that has graced individuals from diverse walks of life throughout Japanese history, each leaving an indelible mark on their respective fields and contributing to the cultural tapestry of Japan.
People
Miyuki + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Miyuki 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
Miyuki: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Miyuki?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 273 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Miyuki 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 1,255,510 US residents.
Is Miyuki a common name?
We classify Miyuki as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 348 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Miyuki most popular?
The single biggest year for Miyuki was 1924, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Miyuki is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Miyuki in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,456 people with the name Miyuki, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,509 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 Miyuki 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 Miyuki?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Miyuki appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,455 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Miyuki?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Miyuki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 86.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.6%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Miyuki most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Miyuki in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.3% (1,257 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 Miyuki in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Miyuki a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Miyuki in the SSA data are female. 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 Miyuki still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Miyuki 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 Miyuki 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 Miyuki?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.