Satsuki
A Japanese name meaning "the month of May" or "beginning of summer".
Name Census estimates that about 35 living Americans carry the first name Satsuki. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Satsuki today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Satsuki births was 1920 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Satsuki. 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 Satsuki with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Satsuki. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
35
~ 1 in 9,792,981 Americans
Peak year
1920
9 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2022 SSA rank
#11,085
Tracked since 1915
Census
Satsuki in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 251 people with the first name Satsuki, which placed it at #33,109 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
#33,109
National first-name rank
People counted
251
251 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Satsuki
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Satsuki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Satsuki 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 Satsuki at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.8% · 223
- Two or more races5.2% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 10
- White1.6% · 4
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
Popularity
Satsuki: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Satsuki 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 65 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
Satsuki 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 Satsuki during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Satsukis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Satsuki
Satsuki is a Japanese given name with origins dating back to the 8th century AD. In the Japanese language, "Satsuki" consists of two kanji characters: "satsu" meaning "May" and "ki" meaning "month." Consequently, the name essentially signifies the month of May or the fifth month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar.
The name Satsuki can be traced back to the Nara period (710-794 AD) in Japan, when it was used to refer to the fifth month of the year. This association arose from the fact that the Satsuki azalea, a species of rhododendron, typically blooms during this time of the year in Japan. The name was likely derived from the Japanese word "satsuki" (五月), which literally means "the fifth month."
Historical references to the name Satsuki can be found in various Japanese literary works and poetry anthologies from the Heian period (794-1185 AD). One notable mention occurs in the "Kokin Wakashū," an influential anthology of Japanese waka poetry compiled in the early 10th century, where the name is used to describe the month of May.
The earliest recorded examples of Satsuki as a given name date back to the late 19th century, coinciding with the Meiji Restoration and the westernization of Japan. During this period, it became more common for Japanese people to adopt given names in addition to their family names.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Satsuki, including:
1. Satsuki Yukino (born 1961), a Japanese voice actress known for her work in anime series like "Dragon Ball Z" and "Sailor Moon."
2. Satsuki Ōe (1920-2007), a Japanese writer and the wife of Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburō Ōe.
3. Satsuki Azalea (1929-2012), a Japanese entrepreneur and the founder of the popular bakery chain Andersen.
4. Satsuki Yuizaki (born 1986), a Japanese actress and model who has appeared in various television dramas and films.
5. Satsuki Ushio (1908-1988), a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives, who served as the Minister of Labor from 1970 to 1971.
While the name Satsuki has its roots in traditional Japanese culture and language, it has gained popularity globally in recent times, particularly among those with an appreciation for Japanese aesthetics and the natural world.
People
Satsuki + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Satsuki as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Satsuki: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Satsuki?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Satsuki 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 9,792,981 US residents.
Is Satsuki a common name?
We classify Satsuki as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 111 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Satsuki most popular?
The single biggest year for Satsuki was 1920, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Satsuki is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Satsuki in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 251 people with the name Satsuki, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,109 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 Satsuki 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 Satsuki?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Satsuki leans strongly female. 247 people counted with this name were female (96.1%), compared with 10 male bearers (3.9%). 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 Satsuki?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Satsuki is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.2%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Satsuki most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Satsuki in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (223 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 Satsuki in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Satsuki a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Satsuki 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 Satsuki still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Satsuki 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 Satsuki 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 common is the name Satsuki?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.