Hiraga last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Hiraga is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Hiraga.

Meaning of Hiraga

A Japanese surname possibly derived from the placename "Hira" combined with "ga", meaning origin or people.

Hiraga, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Hiraga surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Hiraga in America

Hiraga is the 107134th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Hiraga surname appeared 166 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Hiraga.

We can also compare 2010 data for Hiraga to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 107134 95091 11.91%
Count 166 178 -6.98%
Proportion per 100k 0.06 0.07 -15.38%

The history of the last name Hiraga

The surname HIRAGA is of Japanese origin and dates back to the 7th century AD, during the Asuka period of Japanese history. It is believed to have originated in the Nara region of central Japan, where the ancient capital cities of Nara and Asuka were located.

The name HIRAGA is thought to be derived from the Japanese words "hira," meaning "plain" or "flat," and "ga," which is a possessive particle, suggesting that the name may have originally referred to a person or family who lived on a flat or plain area of land. Alternatively, it may have its roots in the word "hiraga," which means "humble" or "modest" in Japanese.

Some of the earliest recorded examples of the HIRAGA name can be found in ancient Japanese records and chronicles dating back to the 8th and 9th centuries. For instance, a figure named HIRAGA no Yoshino is mentioned in the Shoku Nihongi, an early 9th-century imperial chronicle, as a prominent courtier and nobleman during the reign of Emperor Saga.

Another notable figure was HIRAGA Gennai (1728-1780), a renowned Japanese philosopher, inventor, and writer who lived during the Edo period. He was known for his contributions to the study of electricity and his writings on various scientific and philosophical topics.

In the 19th century, HIRAGA Motosuke (1822-1886) was a prominent samurai and military leader who served the Tokugawa shogunate during the final years of the Edo period. He played a key role in the Boshin War, a conflict that marked the end of the shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji Restoration.

During the Meiji era, HIRAGA Nobuyuki (1831-1904) was a Japanese diplomat and statesman who served as the first resident minister to the United States from Japan in 1868. He played a significant role in establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In more recent times, HIRAGA Gennai II (1905-1986) was a renowned Japanese author and literary critic who was active in the Showa period. He was known for his works on Japanese literature and his translations of Western literature into Japanese.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Hiraga

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Hiraga.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Hiraga was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 9.64% 16
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 77.71% 129
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 10.24% 17
Hispanic Origin (S)% (S)

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Hiraga has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 9.64% 10.11% -4.76%
Black (S)% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 77.71% 82.02% -5.40%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Two or More Races 10.24% 6.18% 49.45%
Hispanic (S)% (S)% (S)%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Hiraga was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Hiraga, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Hiraga last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/hiraga-surname-popularity/.

"Hiraga last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/hiraga-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Hiraga last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/hiraga-surname-popularity/.

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.