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

Kawamata, 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 Kawamata surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Kawamata in America

Kawamata is the 139228th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kawamata surname appeared 120 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 Kawamata.

We can also compare 2010 data for Kawamata 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.

The history of the last name Kawamata

The surname Kawamata is of Japanese origin, believed to have emerged during the Heian period (794-1185 AD) in Japan. It is a locative surname, derived from the Japanese words "kawa" meaning river and "mata" meaning fork or confluence, suggesting that the name originated from a place near the fork or confluence of a river.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Kawamata surname can be found in the Kamakura period (1185-1333 AD) records of the Kamakura Shogunate, where a samurai named Kawamata Nobuyoshi (1198-1272) is mentioned for his military exploits during the Mongol invasions of Japan.

In the Muromachi period (1336-1573 AD), the Kawamata clan was a prominent samurai family based in the Iga Province (present-day Mie Prefecture). They were known for their skill in ninjutsu and served as shinobi (ninja) for various daimyo (feudal lords).

During the Edo period (1603-1868 AD), a notable figure was Kawamata Tsuneyuki (1638-1705), a Confucian scholar and advisor to the Tokugawa Shogunate. He was instrumental in establishing the Kawamata clan as a respected scholarly family.

In the Meiji era (1868-1912 AD), Kawamata Shigeru (1851-1909) was a prominent politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and played a crucial role in the negotiations leading to the Portsmouth Treaty, which ended the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Another notable figure was Kawamata Michitoshi (1880-1959), a pioneering filmmaker who directed Japan's first animated film, "Namakura Gatana" (1917), and contributed significantly to the development of early Japanese cinema.

While the Kawamata surname may not have appeared in historical records as extensively as some other Japanese surnames, it has a long and distinguished history, with individuals from this lineage making significant contributions in various fields throughout Japanese history.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Kawamata

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

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 Kawamata was:

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 Kawamata has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Kawamata was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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