Yuji
A masculine Japanese name meaning "superior, excellent or virtuous person".
Name Census estimates that about 256 living Americans carry the first name Yuji. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yuji today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yuji births was 1992 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yuji. 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 Yuji with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
256
~ 1 in 1,338,884 Americans
Peak year
1992
11 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,831
Tracked since 1972
Census
Yuji in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 839 people with the first name Yuji, which placed it at #14,135 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
#14,135
National first-name rank
People counted
839
839 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
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 Yuji
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yuji is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and White (1.7%). 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 Yuji 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 Yuji at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander88.8% · 745
- Two or more races7.5% · 63
- White1.7% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 12
- Black or African American0.6% · 5
Popularity
Yuji: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yuji from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 58 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Yuji remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yuji 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 Yuji during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yujis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yuji
The name Yuji is of Japanese origin, derived from the combination of two kanji characters: "yu" meaning "superior" or "excellence," and "ji" meaning "second" or "next." It is a masculine given name that has been in use since ancient times in Japan.
The earliest known record of the name Yuji dates back to the 8th century, when it appeared in the Shoku Nihongi, an early Japanese historical text. During this period, the name was often given to noble or samurai families as a symbol of aspiration for their second son to achieve greatness and surpass their elder sibling.
In the 12th century, the name Yuji gained further prominence with the birth of Yuji Konoe, a renowned Japanese Buddhist monk and poet. He was a member of the prestigious Konoe family and is known for his contributions to the development of Japanese literature and calligraphy.
Another notable figure in history bearing the name Yuji was Yuji Inoue, a Japanese politician and diplomat who lived from 1869 to 1924. He played a crucial role in the modernization of Japan during the Meiji era and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1909 to 1910.
In the realm of arts and culture, Yuji Koseki, a Japanese writer and translator born in 1909, gained recognition for his translations of Western literature into Japanese. His works helped bridge the gap between Japanese and Western cultures and introduced many literary masterpieces to Japanese readers.
More recently, Yuji Naka, born in 1963, is a renowned Japanese video game programmer and designer. He is best known for his work on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and is celebrated for his contributions to the gaming industry.
Throughout its history, the name Yuji has been associated with individuals who have achieved excellence and made significant contributions to various fields, reflecting the name's meaning of "superior" and "next in line." It continues to be a popular choice among Japanese parents, carrying with it a rich cultural heritage and aspirations for their children's success.
People
Yuji + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yuji 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
Yuji: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yuji?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 256 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yuji 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 1,338,884 US residents.
Is Yuji a common name?
We classify Yuji as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 262 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yuji most popular?
The single biggest year for Yuji was 1992, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yuji is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yuji in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 839 people with the name Yuji, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,135 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 Yuji 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 Yuji?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yuji leans strongly male. 770 people counted with this name were male (91.6%), compared with 71 female bearers (8.4%). 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 Yuji?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yuji is Asian/Pacific Islander at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and White (1.7%). 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 Yuji most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yuji in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (745 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 Yuji in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yuji a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yuji 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 Yuji still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yuji 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 Yuji 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 are named Yuji?
Find out how many people share the name Yuji on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.