Taiyo
Japanese name meaning "sun" or "sun child".
Name Census estimates that about 295 living Americans carry the first name Taiyo. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Taiyo today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Taiyo births was 2008 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Taiyo. 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 Taiyo with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
295
~ 1 in 1,161,879 Americans
Peak year
2008
16 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,403
Tracked since 1997
Census
Taiyo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Taiyo, which placed it at #31,017 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
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Two or more races
45.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Taiyo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taiyo is Two or More Races at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (38.1%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Taiyo 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 Taiyo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Two or more races45.7% · 127
- Asian and Pacific Islander38.1% · 106
- Hispanic or Latino6.8% · 19
- White5.8% · 16
- Black or African American3.6% · 10
Popularity
Taiyo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Taiyo from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 118 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Taiyo remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Taiyo 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 Taiyo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Taiyos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Taiyo
The name Taiyo has its origins in Japanese culture, where it is a relatively common given name for both males and females. The name itself is derived from the Japanese words "tai" meaning "great" or "large" and "yo" meaning "sun" or "ocean." Thus, the name Taiyo can be translated to mean "great sun" or "great ocean."
One of the earliest known uses of the name Taiyo can be traced back to the 8th century CE, where it appears in several ancient Japanese texts and records, often referring to the sun or celestial bodies. The name's connection to the sun is believed to have been influenced by Japan's strong cultural and religious ties to solar deities and the worship of the sun.
In Japanese mythology, the sun goddess Amaterasu is a prominent figure, and the name Taiyo may have been used as a way to honor or pay tribute to this deity. Additionally, the name's association with the ocean could be linked to Japan's island geography and the importance of the sea in its culture and history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Taiyo was a Japanese poet and courtier who lived during the Heian period (794-1185 CE). Known as Taiyo no Kiyomori, he was a renowned composer of waka poetry and served at the imperial court.
In the 16th century, Taiyo was the name of a renowned Japanese swordsmith who crafted some of the finest katanas of his time. His blades were highly sought after by samurai warriors and are still considered masterpieces of Japanese sword-making.
During the Edo period (1603-1868 CE), there was a prominent Japanese painter named Taiyo Okuhara, whose works depicting landscapes and scenes from everyday life were widely admired and influential in the development of Japanese art.
In more recent history, Taiyo Matsumoto is a celebrated Japanese manga artist and writer, best known for his critically acclaimed series "Ping Pong" and "Sunny." Born in 1967, Matsumoto's works have been praised for their unique art style and exploration of complex themes.
Another notable figure with the name Taiyo is Taiyo Onorato, a Swiss-born artist and photographer who has gained recognition for his collaborative works with Nico Krebs, exploring themes of landscape, technology, and the human relationship with the natural world.
While the name Taiyo may have evolved in meaning and usage over time, its connection to the sun, ocean, and Japanese culture remains a central part of its historical significance and enduring popularity as a given name.
People
Taiyo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Taiyo 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
Taiyo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Taiyo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 295 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Taiyo 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 1,161,879 US residents.
Is Taiyo a common name?
We classify Taiyo as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 298 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Taiyo most popular?
The single biggest year for Taiyo was 2008, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Taiyo is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Taiyo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Taiyo, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 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 Taiyo 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 Taiyo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Taiyo leans strongly male. 270 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 8 female bearers (2.9%). 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 Taiyo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Taiyo is Two or More Races at 45.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (38.1%) and Hispanic (6.8%). 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 Taiyo most often in the Census?
Two or More Races is the largest reported group for people named Taiyo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.7% (127 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 Taiyo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Taiyo a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Taiyo 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 Taiyo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Taiyo 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 Taiyo 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 Taiyo as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.