Sakura
A feminine Japanese name meaning "cherry blossom" or "blooming flower".
Name Census estimates that about 1,703 living Americans carry the first name Sakura. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sakura today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sakura births was 2012 (87 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sakura. 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 Sakura with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Sakura 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
1.7K
~ 1 in 201,265 Americans
Peak year
2012
87 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,001
Tracked since 1970
Census
Sakura in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,552 people with the first name Sakura, which placed it at #9,107 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
#9,107
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
35.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sakura
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sakura is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (28.2%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Sakura 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 Sakura at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander35.1% · 544
- Two or more races28.2% · 438
- Hispanic or Latino15.4% · 239
- White13.3% · 207
- Black or African American7.5% · 116
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 8
Popularity
Sakura: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sakura from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 702 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sakura remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sakura 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 Sakura during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sakuras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sakura, while Washington, Virginia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sakura
The given name Sakura is of Japanese origin, derived from the Japanese word for the cherry blossom flower. The name has been in use since ancient times in Japan, with records of it appearing in historical texts and literature dating back to the Heian period (794-1185 AD).
Sakura is a highly symbolic name in Japanese culture, as the cherry blossom is a revered national symbol representing the ephemeral beauty of life. The cherry blossom season is celebrated annually with hanami (flower-viewing) parties and festivals across Japan.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sakura can be found in the classic Japanese novel "The Tale of Genji," written by Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century. In the novel, Sakura is the name of a minor character, a young woman of noble birth.
Throughout Japanese history, there have been several notable individuals named Sakura. One of the most famous was Sakura Sōgorō (1605-1678), a renowned samurai and martial artist who was a master of the Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryū sword style.
Another prominent figure was Sakura Hinako (1857-1939), a pioneering educator and feminist who founded one of Japan's first girls' schools and advocated for women's rights and education.
In the realm of arts and culture, Sakura Tsukuba (1925-1989) was a celebrated classical Japanese dancer and choreographer who helped preserve and promote traditional Japanese dance forms.
Sakura Miyawaki (born 1997) is a contemporary Japanese idol and member of the popular K-pop girl group IZ*ONE, highlighting the name's enduring popularity in modern times.
Sakura Haruno is also the name of a fictional character from the popular manga and anime series "Naruto," further cementing the name's association with Japanese culture and aesthetics.
Overall, the name Sakura holds a special place in Japanese culture, evoking the beauty and transience of the cherry blossom, and has been borne by notable individuals throughout Japanese history.
People
Sakura + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sakura as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sakura: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sakura?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,703 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sakura 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 201,265 US residents.
Is Sakura a common name?
We classify Sakura as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,725 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sakura most popular?
The single biggest year for Sakura was 2012, when 87 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sakura 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 Sakura in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,552 people with the name Sakura, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,107 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 Sakura 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 Sakura?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sakura appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,553 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sakura?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sakura is Asian/Pacific Islander at 35.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (28.2%) and Hispanic (15.4%). 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 Sakura most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sakura in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.1% (544 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 Sakura in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sakura a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sakura 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 Sakura still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sakura 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 Sakura 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 Sakura as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Sakura on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.