Ayumi
A Japanese feminine name meaning "walking beauty" or "walking elegance".
Name Census estimates that about 588 living Americans carry the first name Ayumi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ayumi today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ayumi births was 2023 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ayumi. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ayumi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
588
~ 1 in 582,916 Americans
Peak year
2023
28 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,266
Tracked since 1966
Census
Ayumi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,182 people with the first name Ayumi, which placed it at #11,015 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
#11,015
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,182 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ayumi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayumi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (10.0%). 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 Ayumi 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 Ayumi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander75.3% · 890
- Two or more races10.9% · 129
- Hispanic or Latino10.0% · 118
- Black or African American1.8% · 21
- White1.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5
Popularity
Ayumi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ayumi from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 202 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ayumi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ayumi 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 Ayumi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ayumis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Ayumi, while New Jersey, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ayumi
The given name Ayumi has its origins in the Japanese language. It is a feminine name that emerged during the Edo period in Japan, which lasted from the early 17th century to the mid-19th century. The name Ayumi is derived from the Japanese word "ayumu," which means "to walk" or "to make progress."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Ayumi can be found in the literary work "Tsurezure Gusa" (Essays in Idleness) written by the Buddhist monk Yoshida Kenko in the 14th century. In this work, Kenko used the name Ayumi as a poetic metaphor for the journey of life.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ayumi. One of the most famous was Ayumi Hamasaki, a renowned Japanese singer, songwriter, and actress born in 1978. She is often referred to as the "Empress of J-pop" and has sold over 50 million records worldwide.
Another prominent figure with the name Ayumi was Ayumi Tezuka, a Japanese manga artist and writer born in 1964. She is best known for her manga series "Princess Princess," which explored themes of gender identity and same-sex relationships.
In the world of sports, Ayumi Morita, a Japanese track and field athlete born in 1984, made her mark as a long-distance runner. She won multiple medals, including a gold medal in the marathon event at the 2010 Asian Games.
The name Ayumi also has a notable presence in Japanese literature. Ayumi Kudoh, born in 1968, is a celebrated Japanese author known for her novels exploring themes of identity, relationships, and modern Japanese society.
Lastly, Ayumi Kurihara, born in 1975, is a renowned Japanese actress who has appeared in numerous films, television shows, and stage productions. Her performances have earned her critical acclaim and several accolades throughout her career.
People
Ayumi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ayumi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ayumi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ayumi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 588 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ayumi 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 582,916 US residents.
Is Ayumi a common name?
We classify Ayumi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 599 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ayumi most popular?
The single biggest year for Ayumi was 2023, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ayumi is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ayumi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,182 people with the name Ayumi, or 0.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,015 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 Ayumi 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 Ayumi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ayumi leans strongly female. 1,167 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 16 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Ayumi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayumi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (10.0%). 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 Ayumi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ayumi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (890 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 Ayumi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ayumi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ayumi 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 Ayumi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ayumi 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 Ayumi 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 Americans are named Ayumi?
See how many people have the name Ayumi on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.