Machi
A Japanese name meaning "street" or "town".
Name Census estimates that about 332 living Americans carry the first name Machi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Machi today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Machi births was 2006 (34 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Machi. 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.
People living today
332
~ 1 in 1,032,393 Americans
Peak year
2006
34 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,781
Tracked since 1999
Census
Machi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 303 people with the first name Machi, which placed it at #29,290 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
#29,290
National first-name rank
People counted
303
303 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Machi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Machi is Black at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.2%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Machi 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 Machi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.0% · 200
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.2% · 37
- Two or more races7.9% · 24
- White7.3% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 3
Popularity
Machi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Machi from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 165 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Machi 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 Machi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Machis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, Maryland, New York recorded the most babies named Machi, while New York, Maryland, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Machi
The name Machi has its roots in the Japanese language and culture, tracing back to the 8th century AD during the Nara period. It is derived from the Japanese word "machi," which means "town" or "village." The name was initially used to refer to people who lived in towns or villages, often associated with a specific location or region.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Machi can be found in the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese chronicle dating back to 712 AD. The Kojiki mentions several individuals with the name Machi, although their specific roles or significance are not explicitly stated.
During the Heian period (794-1185 AD), the name Machi gained popularity among the aristocratic class in Japan. It was often given to children born in urban areas or those with familial ties to influential families residing in towns or cities.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Machi no Haha, a Japanese Buddhist nun and poet, lived during the late Heian period. Her poetry and writings have been preserved in various anthologies, providing insight into the literary and cultural aspects of that era.
Another prominent individual bearing the name Machi was Machi Tawara, a renowned Japanese waka poet who lived during the Kamakura period (1185-1333 AD). Her poetry collection, titled "Tawara no Machi Shū," is considered a masterpiece of Japanese literature and has influenced generations of poets.
In the Edo period (1603-1868 AD), the name Machi was frequently associated with individuals involved in the entertainment industry, particularly the traditional Japanese theater form known as Kabuki. One notable example is Machi Umekichi, a famous Kabuki actor and playwright who lived from 1688 to 1744.
It is important to note that while the name Machi has historical significance and literary connections, it is not commonly used as a given name in modern times. However, its legacy and cultural associations continue to be celebrated and studied by scholars and enthusiasts of Japanese history and literature.
People
Machi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Machi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Machi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Machi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 332 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Machi 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 1,032,393 US residents.
Is Machi a common name?
We classify Machi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Machi most popular?
The single biggest year for Machi was 2006, when 34 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Machi 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 Machi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 303 people with the name Machi, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,290 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 Machi 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 Machi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Machi leans strongly male. 248 people counted with this name were male (82.4%), compared with 53 female bearers (17.6%). 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 Machi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Machi is Black at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.2%) and Two or More Races (7.9%). 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 Machi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Machi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (200 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 Machi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Machi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Machi 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 Machi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Machi 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 Machi 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 Machi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.