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

Nonaka, 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 Nonaka surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nonaka in America

Nonaka is the 53072nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nonaka surname appeared 390 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 Nonaka.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nonaka 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 Nonaka

The surname Nonaka is of Japanese origin, deriving from the Sino-Japanese roots "no" meaning "field" and "naka" meaning "inside" or "within." It is believed to have originated during the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan when many family names were first adopted.

Nonaka was likely a locative surname referring to someone who lived or worked inside a field or agricultural area. The name could have also been initially associated with a specific place name containing those characters, but records from that era are scarce.

One of the earliest known references to the Nonaka surname appears in the 13th century Japanese literary work "Heike Monogatari" or "The Tale of the Heike." This epic chronicles the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan.

In the 16th century, a prominent Nonaka family emerged as feudal lords in the Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture). Nonaka Saneyori (1530-1603) was a skilled military commander who fought alongside the famous daimyo Nobunaga Oda in his campaigns to unify Japan.

Another notable figure was Nonaka Kenmotsu (1615-1672), a Confucian scholar and advisor to the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period. His writings on ethics and governance were highly influential at the time.

During the Meiji Restoration of the late 19th century, Nonaka Kanjiro (1843-1925) was a progressive educator who helped modernize Japan's school system based on Western models. He served as the first president of Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo).

In more recent history, Ikujiro Nonaka (born 1935) is a renowned organizational theorist known for his work on knowledge management and the concept of "tacit knowledge." He received the Kyoto Prize in 2008 for his academic contributions.

The Nonaka name continues to be relatively common in Japan today, though not among the top 100 most prevalent surnames in the country. Its geographic distribution is concentrated in the Chubu and Kanto regions historically associated with the lineages mentioned above.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nonaka

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

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

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

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