Tadashi
A masculine Japanese name meaning "loyal" or "obedient".
Name Census estimates that about 190 living Americans carry the first name Tadashi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tadashi today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tadashi births was 1922 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tadashi. 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
190
~ 1 in 1,803,970 Americans
Peak year
1922
35 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,862
Tracked since 1912
Census
Tadashi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 533 people with the first name Tadashi, which placed it at #19,699 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
#19,699
National first-name rank
People counted
533
533 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
69.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tadashi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tadashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.1%) and Black (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 Tadashi 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 Tadashi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander69.4% · 370
- Two or more races13.1% · 70
- Black or African American7.9% · 42
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 39
- White1.9% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Tadashi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tadashi from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 255 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tadashi 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 Tadashi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tadashis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Hawaii, California, Washington recorded the most babies named Tadashi, while Washington, California, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 143 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tadashi
The name Tadashi is a Japanese given name with a rich cultural history. It has its origins in the Japanese language, where the word "tadashi" means "correct," "true," or "right." This name likely emerged during the Heian period (794-1185 CE) in Japan when Japanese names became more prevalent and distinct from Chinese-influenced naming traditions.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tadashi can be found in the Heike Monogatari, a famous Japanese epic from the 13th century. This work mentions a character named Tadashi no Choryo, a Buddhist monk who played a pivotal role in the events of the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans.
Throughout Japanese history, several notable individuals bore the name Tadashi. One such figure was Tadashi Yanai, a renowned Japanese entrepreneur and the founder of the successful clothing company Uniqlo. Yanai, born in 1949, is widely regarded as one of the most influential businessmen in modern Japan.
Another prominent Tadashi was Tadashi Suzuki, a celebrated Japanese theatre director and founder of the Suzuki Company of Toga. Born in 1939, Suzuki's innovative approach to theatre and his influential works, such as "The Tale of Lear," earned him international acclaim and numerous awards.
In the realm of literature, Tadashi Hirai, a Japanese author born in 1939, made significant contributions with his novels and short stories. His works often explored themes of identity, loneliness, and the human condition, earning him critical acclaim and several literary awards.
Moving to the world of sports, Tadashi Kawamata, a Japanese professional baseball player born in 1952, left an indelible mark on the game. As a pitcher for the Yomiuri Giants, he achieved numerous accolades, including being named to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Another notable Tadashi was Tadashi Kawai, a Japanese mathematician born in 1932. Kawai's groundbreaking work in the field of algebraic geometry and his contributions to the study of complex manifolds earned him international recognition and numerous honors, including the prestigious Wolf Prize in Mathematics.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Tadashi. The name's rich cultural heritage and its association with concepts like truth, correctness, and righteousness have made it a popular choice in Japan for centuries.
People
Tadashi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tadashi as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Tadashi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tadashi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 190 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tadashi 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 1,803,970 US residents.
Is Tadashi a common name?
We classify Tadashi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 73.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 665 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tadashi most popular?
The single biggest year for Tadashi was 1922, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tadashi is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tadashi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 533 people with the name Tadashi, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,699 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 Tadashi 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 Tadashi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tadashi leans strongly male. 517 people counted with this name were male (96.5%), compared with 19 female bearers (3.5%). 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 Tadashi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tadashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 69.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (13.1%) and Black (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 Tadashi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tadashi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.4% (370 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 Tadashi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tadashi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tadashi 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 Tadashi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tadashi 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 Tadashi 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 are named Tadashi?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.