Torii
A Japanese name referring to a traditional gateway structure in Shinto shrines.
Name Census estimates that about 94 living Americans carry the first name Torii. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Torii today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Torii births was 2003 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Torii. 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 Torii. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
94
~ 1 in 3,646,323 Americans
Peak year
2003
13 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2007 SSA rank
#12,217
Tracked since 1970
Gender
Gender distribution for Torii
Torii leans heavily female at 82.3% of total registrations, but 17 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Torii as a male name
- Ranked #12,217 in 2007
- 6 male births in 2007
- Peak: 2003 (6 births)
Torii as a female name
- Ranked #17,462 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2016 (9 births)
Popularity
Torii: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Torii from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 30 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Torii remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Torii 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 Torii during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Torii
The name Torii has its origins in Japanese culture. It is believed to have derived from the word "tori," which means "bird" in Japanese. The earliest recorded use of the name Torii dates back to the 8th century AD, during the Nara period in Japan.
Torii is closely associated with the traditional Japanese Shinto religion. In Shinto shrines, a torii gate is a distinctive architectural feature that marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. These gates, often made of wood or stone, have a symbolic meaning and are believed to represent the entrance to the sacred space.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Torii was Torii Hiranao, a Japanese samurai and military commander who lived from 1579 to 1628. He served under the famous Tokugawa shogunate and played a significant role in the Siege of Osaka in 1615.
Another notable figure was Torii Kiyonobu I, a Japanese ukiyo-e artist and woodblock print designer who lived from 1664 to 1729. He was a prominent figure in the Torii school of ukiyo-e art and is known for his influential works depicting kabuki actors and scenes from traditional Japanese theater.
In the 19th century, Torii Yozo I was a renowned Japanese potter and ceramist who lived from 1838 to 1905. He was a pioneer of the Ohi-yaki pottery style and is credited with reviving and preserving traditional Japanese ceramic techniques.
Torii Ryuzo was a Japanese physicist and engineer who lived from 1870 to 1953. He made significant contributions to the development of wireless technology and is considered one of the founders of radio engineering in Japan.
In more recent history, Torii Yasunari was a Japanese writer and poet who lived from 1923 to 1993. He is best known for his novel "The Scorpion," which explores themes of isolation and existentialism in post-war Japan.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Torii
People
Torii + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Torii as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Torii: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Torii?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 94 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Torii 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 3,646,323 US residents.
Is Torii a common name?
We classify Torii as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Torii most popular?
The single biggest year for Torii was 2003, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Torii is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Torii a female name?
Yes, 82.3% of people registered as Torii 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.
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.