Kobe
A winding, meandering path, typically referring to a famous Japanese beef.
Name Census estimates that about 22,246 living Americans carry the first name Kobe. It sits at #409 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (97.4% of registrations). The average person named Kobe today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kobe births was 2020 (1,572 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kobe. 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 Kobe with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Kobe is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 574 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Kobe is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,407 Americans
Peak year
2020
1,572 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#409
Tracked since 1989
Census
Kobe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,213 people with the first name Kobe, which placed it at #1,882 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
#1,882
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,213 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
31.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kobe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kobe is Black at 31.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Hispanic (13.9%). 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 Kobe 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 Kobe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American31.5% · 4,793
- White31.2% · 4,754
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 2,122
- Two or more races13.8% · 2,101
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.2% · 1,099
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 344
Gender
Gender distribution for Kobe
Kobe leans heavily male at 97.4% of total registrations, but 574 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kobe as a male name
- Ranked #409 in 2024
- 787 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (1,552 births)
Kobe as a female name
- Ranked #3,719 in 2024
- 41 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (60 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kobe leans strongly male. 14,890 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 321 female bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Kobe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kobe from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 9,253 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kobe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kobe 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 Kobe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kobes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kobe, while Wyoming, New Hampshire, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 422 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kobe
The name Kobe is of Japanese origin and can be traced back to the 8th century in Japan. It is derived from the Japanese word "kobe", which means "ancient stride" or "sacred steed". The name was likely given to children in ancient Japan with the hope that they would grow up to be strong and resilient like a mighty steed.
In the early 12th century, Kobe appeared as a place name in the Kamakura region of Japan. The city of Kobe, located in the Hyogo Prefecture, was named after a small village that existed in the area during that time period. It is believed that the village was named after a prominent local family who bore the surname Kobe.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Kobe was Kobe no Tsunehisa, a Japanese samurai warrior who lived in the late 12th century. He was a member of the Minamoto clan and played a significant role in the Genpei War, a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan.
In the 16th century, Kobe no Masamoto was a renowned Japanese swordsmith who lived in the Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture). He was renowned for his exceptional craftsmanship and contributed to the development of the Japanese sword-making tradition.
Another notable figure with the name Kobe was Kobe Tsunayoshi, a Japanese daimyo (feudal lord) who ruled the Sendai Domain in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was known for his role in the Sendai Reformation, a series of reforms aimed at improving the economic and social conditions of his domain.
In the 19th century, Kobe Toshitsura was a Japanese educator and scholar who played a pivotal role in the modernization of Japan's education system during the Meiji Restoration. He was instrumental in introducing Western-style education to Japan and establishing several prominent schools and universities.
While the name Kobe has ancient roots in Japanese culture, it has also gained international recognition due to the fame of Kobe Bryant, the legendary American basketball player who tragically passed away in 2020. His name, which he shared with the Japanese city, helped to popularize the name globally, particularly in the United States.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Kobe
People
Kobe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kobe 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
Kobe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kobe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,246 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kobe 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 15,407 US residents.
Is Kobe a common name?
We classify Kobe as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 22,497 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kobe most popular?
The single biggest year for Kobe was 2020, when 1,572 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kobe is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kobe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,213 people with the name Kobe, or 5.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,882 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 Kobe 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 Kobe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kobe leans strongly male. 14,890 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 321 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Kobe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kobe is Black at 31.5%. The next largest groups are White (31.2%) and Hispanic (13.9%). 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 Kobe most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Kobe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.5% (4,793 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 Kobe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kobe a male name?
Yes, 97.4% of people registered as Kobe 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 Kobe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kobe 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 Kobe 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 common is the name Kobe?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Kobe at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.