Kato
A Japanese masculine name meaning "firm" or "strong".
Name Census estimates that about 773 living Americans carry the first name Kato. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kato today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kato births was 2022 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kato. 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 Kato with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
773
~ 1 in 443,408 Americans
Peak year
2022
57 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,806
Tracked since 1914
Census
Kato in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 634 people with the first name Kato, which placed it at #17,418 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
#17,418
National first-name rank
People counted
634
634 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
26.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kato
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kato is Black at 26.2%. The next largest groups are White (21.6%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Kato 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 Kato at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American26.2% · 166
- White21.6% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 122
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.0% · 95
- Two or more races12.9% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.0% · 32
Popularity
Kato: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kato from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 337 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kato remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kato 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 Kato during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Katos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Arizona recorded the most babies named Kato, while Ohio, New York, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kato
The name Kato is believed to have originated in Japan, where it is a common surname and, less frequently, a given name. The exact origin of the name is uncertain, but it is thought to be derived from the Japanese word "kato," meaning "upper" or "higher."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Kato dates back to the 12th century, when it was mentioned in the Heike Monogatari, a famous Japanese epic describing the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans. In this work, Kato is mentioned as the name of a samurai warrior who fought for the Taira clan.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Kato. One of the most famous was Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611), a powerful daimyo (feudal lord) and military commander who played a significant role in the campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Japan's most influential leaders during the Sengoku period.
Another prominent figure with the name Kato was Kato Shunichi (1909-1973), a Japanese mathematician and academic who made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry. Kato was a professor at the University of Tokyo and a member of the Japan Academy.
In the realm of literature, Kato Shuichi (1919-2008) was a renowned Japanese novelist and essayist. He was the recipient of several prestigious literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize and the Order of Culture from the Japanese government.
Moving beyond Japan, there are also examples of individuals with the name Kato in other cultures. For instance, Kato Lomb (1909-2003) was a Hungarian-American electrical engineer and physicist who made significant contributions to the development of color television and electronic imaging.
While the name Kato is most commonly associated with Japanese culture, its use as a given name has also been recorded in other parts of the world, albeit less frequently. This suggests that the name may have been adopted or adapted by other cultures over time, potentially due to cultural exchange or migration.
People
Kato + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kato as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kato: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kato?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 773 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kato 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 443,408 US residents.
Is Kato a common name?
We classify Kato as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 811 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kato most popular?
The single biggest year for Kato was 2022, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kato is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kato in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 634 people with the name Kato, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,418 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 Kato 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 Kato?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kato leans strongly male. 586 people counted with this name were male (91.8%), compared with 52 female bearers (8.2%). 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 Kato?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kato is Black at 26.2%. The next largest groups are White (21.6%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Kato most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kato in the 2020 Census, accounting for 26.2% (166 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 Kato in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kato a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kato in the SSA data are male. 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 Kato still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kato 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 Kato 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 people have Kato as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Kato on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.