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

Okuyama, 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 Okuyama surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Okuyama in America

Okuyama is the 122314th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Okuyama surname appeared 141 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 Okuyama.

We can also compare 2010 data for Okuyama 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 Okuyama

The surname Okuyama is of Japanese origin, emerging during the Nara period (710-794 AD) in the central region of Japan. It is derived from the Japanese words "oku" meaning inner or deep, and "yama" meaning mountain, indicating a person who lived in the remote or inner mountains.

One of the earliest known records of the Okuyama name can be found in the Shoku Nihongi, an early Japanese chronicle compiled in 797 AD, which mentions an individual named Okuyama no Sukemichi serving as a provincial governor in the late 8th century.

During the Kamakura period (1185-1333 AD), the Okuyama clan was a prominent samurai family based in the Shinshu region (modern-day Nagano Prefecture). They were known for their skilled archers and played a role in several military campaigns of the era.

In the 16th century, a renowned Buddhist monk named Okuyama Gengaku (1548-1618) gained prominence as a calligrapher and poet during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. His works are preserved in various temples and museums across Japan.

Another notable figure was Okuyama Kanroku (1636-1703), a Confucian scholar and advisor to the powerful Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period. He is credited with establishing the Okuyama school of Confucian thought, which had a significant influence on Japanese society at the time.

In more recent history, Okuyama Masahiko (1858-1936) was a prominent educator and writer who played a vital role in the modernization of Japan's education system during the Meiji era. He served as the president of several prestigious universities and authored numerous works on education and philosophy.

The Okuyama surname has also been associated with various notable figures in the arts, including the painter Okuyama Gihachiro (1907-1981), known for his landscape paintings depicting the beauty of the Japanese countryside, and the award-winning novelist Okuyama Hiroshi (1936-2022), whose works explored themes of identity and social issues in modern Japan.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Okuyama

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

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

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

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