Yumiko
A Japanese feminine name, combining the elements "yumi" (archery, bow) and "ko" (child).
Name Census estimates that about 254 living Americans carry the first name Yumiko. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yumiko today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yumiko births was 1977 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yumiko. 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
254
~ 1 in 1,349,427 Americans
Peak year
1977
13 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,388
Tracked since 1969
Census
Yumiko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,679 people with the first name Yumiko, which placed it at #8,605 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
#8,605
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,679 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
87.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yumiko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yumiko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Yumiko 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 Yumiko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander87.6% · 1,471
- Two or more races5.9% · 99
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 66
- Black or African American1.6% · 27
- White0.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Yumiko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yumiko from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 59 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Yumiko remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yumiko 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 Yumiko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yumikos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yumiko
The name Yumiko is a Japanese feminine given name. It originated in Japan and has been in use for centuries. The name is a combination of two Japanese words, "yu" meaning "superior" or "excellent," and "miko," which refers to a Shinto shrine maiden or priestess.
In ancient Japan, Shinto shrine maidens held an important role in religious ceremonies and rituals. They were considered sacred and were tasked with assisting priests in maintaining the spiritual purity of shrines. The name Yumiko likely emerged as a way to honor the esteemed position of these shrine maidens and to express a wish for the bearer to possess qualities of excellence and spiritual devotion.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Yumiko can be found in the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese chronicle dating back to the 8th century. This text, which contains chronicles of early Japanese history and mythology, includes references to various women with the name Yumiko, suggesting its widespread use during that time period.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Yumiko. One of the most famous was Yumiko Igarashi (1916-2011), a renowned Japanese artist and ceramicist. Her works, which often incorporated traditional Japanese motifs and techniques, are widely celebrated and can be found in museums around the world.
Another notable Yumiko was Yumiko Chiba (1936-2019), a celebrated Japanese actress who appeared in numerous films and television shows throughout her career. She was particularly known for her performances in period dramas and is regarded as one of the most respected actresses of her generation in Japan.
In the realm of sports, Yumiko Hara (born 1981) is a former professional tennis player from Japan. She achieved a career-high ranking of No. 26 in the world and won three singles titles on the WTA Tour during her career.
Yumiko Kadota (born 1971) is a Japanese writer and novelist. Her works often explore themes of identity, family, and the complexities of modern Japanese society. She has received several prestigious literary awards in Japan and has had her novels translated into multiple languages.
Yumiko Tokunaga (born 1966) is a Japanese singer-songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1980s as a member of the popular Japanese idol group Princess Princess and has since established a successful solo career spanning over three decades.
People
Yumiko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yumiko 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
Yumiko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yumiko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 254 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yumiko 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 1,349,427 US residents.
Is Yumiko a common name?
We classify Yumiko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 265 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yumiko most popular?
The single biggest year for Yumiko was 1977, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yumiko is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yumiko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,679 people with the name Yumiko, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,605 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 Yumiko 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 Yumiko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yumiko appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,681 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Yumiko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yumiko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.9%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Yumiko most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yumiko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.6% (1,471 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 Yumiko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yumiko a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yumiko 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.
Is Yumiko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yumiko 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 Yumiko 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 called Yumiko?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.