Yamato
A masculine Japanese name meaning "great harmony" or "great peace".
Name Census estimates that about 128 living Americans carry the first name Yamato. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yamato today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yamato births was 2007 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yamato. 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.
People living today
128
~ 1 in 2,677,768 Americans
Peak year
2007
11 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2022 SSA rank
#14,241
Tracked since 2000
Census
Yamato in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 150 people with the first name Yamato, which placed it at #45,340 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
#45,340
National first-name rank
People counted
150
150 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
67.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yamato
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yamato is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (22.7%) 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 Yamato 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 Yamato at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander67.3% · 101
- Two or more races22.7% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 8
- White3.3% · 5
- Black or African American1.3% · 2
Popularity
Yamato: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yamato from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 62 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yamato 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 Yamato during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yamatos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yamato
The name Yamato originates from the Japanese language and culture, tracing its roots back to ancient times. Yamato is derived from the word "Yamato-no-kuni," which referred to the central region of Japan where the imperial court and capital were located during the 4th to 8th centuries. This name is deeply intertwined with the rich history and mythology of Japan.
Yamato is closely associated with the legendary Emperor Jimmu, who is believed to have been the first emperor of Japan and the founder of the imperial dynasty in 660 BC, according to the ancient chronicles Kojiki and Nihon Shoki. These texts describe Yamato as the land where the imperial lineage began, imbuing the name with a sense of divine origin and cultural significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yamato can be found in the Man'yoshu, a renowned anthology of Japanese poetry from the 8th century. Several poems in this collection refer to Yamato as a poetic name for the land, highlighting its beauty and cultural importance.
Throughout Japanese history, the name Yamato has been borne by numerous notable individuals. One such figure was Yamato Takeru, a legendary prince who lived around the 2nd century AD and is renowned for his bravery and military exploits, as depicted in the Kojiki.
Another famous bearer of the name was Yamato Monogatari, a Japanese court lady and author who lived during the 10th century. She is best known for her work "The Tale of Yamato," which provides valuable insights into the customs and daily life of the aristocracy during the Heian period.
In more recent times, Yamato Ichihashi (1878-1963) was a prominent Japanese-American educator and author who played a significant role in promoting cultural understanding between Japan and the United States.
Additionally, Yamato Waki (1892-1962) was a revered Japanese actor and director who made significant contributions to the development of modern Japanese theater.
Yamato Tsuruoka (1932-2007) was a celebrated Japanese novelist and essayist, known for his poignant works that explored the complexities of human relationships and the impact of historical events on individuals.
These are just a few examples of the numerous individuals throughout history who have borne the name Yamato, a name that carries deep cultural and historical significance in Japanese tradition.
People
Yamato + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yamato as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yamato: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yamato?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yamato 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 2,677,768 US residents.
Is Yamato a common name?
We classify Yamato as "Very Rare". It ranks above 68.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 129 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yamato most popular?
The single biggest year for Yamato was 2007, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yamato is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yamato in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 150 people with the name Yamato, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,340 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 Yamato 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 Yamato?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yamato leans strongly male. 148 people counted with this name were male (96.7%), compared with 5 female bearers (3.3%). 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 Yamato?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yamato is Asian/Pacific Islander at 67.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (22.7%) 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 Yamato most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yamato in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.3% (101 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 Yamato in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yamato a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yamato 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 Yamato still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yamato 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 Yamato 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 Yamato?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Yamato, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.