Tsutomu
A masculine Japanese name meaning "to walk straight and true".
Name Census estimates that about 15 living Americans carry the first name Tsutomu. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tsutomu today is around 98 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tsutomu births was 1924 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tsutomu. 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
- • The typical person named Tsutomu is about 98 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tsutomus were born before 1938.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tsutomu. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
15
~ 1 in 22,850,289 Americans
Peak year
1924
31 babies that year
Average age
98
years old
1937 SSA rank
#3,977
Tracked since 1912
Census
Tsutomu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 287 people with the first name Tsutomu, which placed it at #30,385 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
#30,385
National first-name rank
People counted
287
287 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tsutomu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tsutomu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.1%) and Hispanic (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 Tsutomu 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 Tsutomu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.5% · 277
- Two or more races2.1% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
Popularity
Tsutomu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tsutomu from the 1910s through to the 1930s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 219 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
Tsutomu 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 Tsutomu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tsutomus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Tsutomu
The name Tsutomu is a Japanese given name. It originated in the Muromachi period (1336-1573) of Japanese history. The name is a combination of two kanji characters: tsu meaning "to pass through" or "to penetrate," and tomu meaning "to stop" or "to halt." Together, the name can convey the idea of persevering through difficulties or overcoming obstacles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tsutomu can be found in the historical records of the Kamakura Shogunate, where it was used by a samurai warrior named Tsutomu Minamoto (1199-1280). Minamoto was known for his bravery and loyalty in the service of the Shogun during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans.
In the Edo period (1603-1868), the name Tsutomu gained popularity among the merchant and artisan classes. A notable figure from this time was Tsutomu Hiroshige (1797-1858), a renowned ukiyo-e artist famous for his woodblock print series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" and "Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido."
During the Meiji era (1868-1912), a period of rapid modernization in Japan, the name Tsutomu was associated with scholars and intellectuals. One such individual was Tsutomu Watanabe (1834-1896), a prominent educator and the founder of the Tokyo Semmon Gakko, which later became Waseda University.
In the 20th century, Tsutomu Yamaguchi (1916-2010) gained recognition as one of the few individuals to have survived both the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. His experiences and advocacy for nuclear disarmament made him a notable figure in the anti-nuclear movement.
Another prominent figure with the name Tsutomu was Tsutomu Hata (1935-2017), a Japanese politician who served as the Prime Minister of Japan for a brief period in 1994. He was known for his efforts to reform the political system and address economic issues during his tenure.
People
Tsutomu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tsutomu 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
Tsutomu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tsutomu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tsutomu 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 22,850,289 US residents.
Is Tsutomu a common name?
We classify Tsutomu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 35.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tsutomu most popular?
The single biggest year for Tsutomu was 1924, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tsutomu is about 98 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tsutomu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 287 people with the name Tsutomu, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,385 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 Tsutomu 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 Tsutomu?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tsutomu appears almost entirely male. Of the 286 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Tsutomu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tsutomu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.1%) and Hispanic (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 Tsutomu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tsutomu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.5% (277 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 Tsutomu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tsutomu a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tsutomu 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 Tsutomu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tsutomu 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 Tsutomu 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 have the name Tsutomu?
See how many people have the name Tsutomu on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.