Wataru
Masculine Japanese name meaning "to traverse" or "to journey".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Wataru. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Wataru today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Wataru births was 1919 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Wataru. 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 Wataru. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
1919
15 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2015 SSA rank
#13,938
Tracked since 1915
Census
Wataru in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 247 people with the first name Wataru, which placed it at #33,475 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
#33,475
National first-name rank
People counted
247
247 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Wataru
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wataru is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Wataru 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 Wataru at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.4% · 238
- Two or more races2.8% · 7
- Black or African American0.8% · 2
Popularity
Wataru: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Wataru from the 1910s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 50 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Wataru 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 Wataru during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Watarus live
Origin
Meaning and history of Wataru
The given name Wataru has its origins in Japanese culture and language. It is believed to have first emerged during the Heian period of Japanese history, which spanned from the late 8th to the late 12th centuries.
Wataru is derived from the Japanese verb "wataru," which means "to cross" or "to go beyond." The name carries a symbolic meaning of overcoming obstacles, progress, and achievement. It may have been initially given to children as a wish for them to overcome challenges and make advancements in life.
Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name Wataru can be found in historical documents and literary works from the Kamakura period, which followed the Heian period. One notable example is the mention of a samurai warrior named Wataru Sasaki in the 13th-century war chronicle "Hōgen Monogatari."
Throughout Japanese history, several individuals with the name Wataru have left their mark. One such figure was Wataru Watari (1835-1888), a prominent educator and scholar who played a significant role in modernizing Japan's education system during the Meiji Restoration.
Another notable individual was Wataru Misaka (1923-2019), a Japanese-American basketball player who became the first person of Asian descent to play in the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA).
In the realm of literature, Wataru Tsurumi (1936-2022) was a renowned Japanese author and essayist known for his works exploring social and political issues in post-war Japan.
The name Wataru has also been carried by prominent figures in the world of martial arts. Wataru Ohashi (1962-), a Japanese judoka, is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and is considered one of the greatest judo practitioners of all time.
Additionally, Wataru Sakata (1947-2008) was a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist who gained fame in the United States and Mexico, where he competed under the ring name "The Great Muta."
While the name Wataru continues to be popular in Japan, its use has also spread to other parts of the world, reflecting the cultural influence of Japanese traditions and values.
People
Wataru + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Wataru as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with W
Other first names starting with W with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Wataru: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Wataru?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Wataru 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 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Wataru a common name?
We classify Wataru as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 142 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Wataru most popular?
The single biggest year for Wataru was 1919, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Wataru is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Wataru in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 247 people with the name Wataru, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,475 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 Wataru 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 Wataru?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Wataru appears almost entirely male. Of the 250 people counted with this name, 99.2% 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 Wataru?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Wataru is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Wataru most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Wataru in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.4% (238 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 Wataru in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Wataru a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Wataru 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 Wataru still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Wataru 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 Wataru 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 Wataru?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.