Takashi
A masculine Japanese name meaning "noble or prosperous".
Name Census estimates that about 373 living Americans carry the first name Takashi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Takashi today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Takashi births was 1925 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Takashi. 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
373
~ 1 in 918,912 Americans
Peak year
1925
42 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,136
Tracked since 1913
Census
Takashi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,610 people with the first name Takashi, which placed it at #8,863 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
#8,863
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,610 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Takashi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Takashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.6%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Takashi 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 Takashi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander87.3% · 1,405
- Two or more races5.6% · 90
- Black or African American3.5% · 57
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 32
- White1.6% · 26
Popularity
Takashi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Takashi from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 300 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
Takashi 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 Takashi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Takashis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Hawaii, Washington recorded the most babies named Takashi, while Washington, Hawaii, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 145 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Takashi
The name Takashi is a Japanese given name. It originated in the Japanese language and has been in use since at least the 7th century AD. The name is derived from the combination of the Japanese words "taka" meaning "noble" or "noble man" and "shi" meaning "warrior" or "samurai."
In ancient Japan, the name Takashi was often given to samurai warriors or sons of noble families. It carried a sense of honor, strength, and valor. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name appear in historical texts and genealogical records from the Nara and Heian periods of Japanese history (710-1185 AD).
One notable historical figure with the name Takashi was Takashi Masuda (1848-1938), a Japanese politician and cabinet minister who served as the Minister of Finance during the Meiji era. Another prominent individual was Takashi Hara (1856-1923), who served as the Prime Minister of Japan from 1918 to 1921.
In the realm of literature, the name Takashi has been featured in various works of Japanese fiction. For instance, Takashi is the name of a character in the novel "The Samurai's Garden" by Gail Tsukiyama, published in 1994.
Throughout history, several other notable figures have borne the name Takashi. These include Takashi Murakami (born 1962), a renowned Japanese contemporary artist known for his work in the "Superflat" movement, and Takashi Inoue (born 1966), a professional baseball player who played for the Yakult Swallows in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Takashi Miyagawa (1942-2008) was a Japanese voice actor who lent his talents to numerous anime and video game productions. Takashi Izumo (born 1932) is a Japanese engineer and former astronaut who participated in the Space Shuttle Challenger mission in 1985, becoming the first Japanese citizen to go into space.
These are just a few examples of the historical and cultural significance of the given name Takashi. Its roots in the Japanese language and its association with honor, nobility, and strength have made it a popular choice for generations of Japanese families.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Takashi
People
Takashi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Takashi 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
Takashi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Takashi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 373 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Takashi 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 918,912 US residents.
Is Takashi a common name?
We classify Takashi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 862 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Takashi most popular?
The single biggest year for Takashi was 1925, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Takashi is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Takashi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,610 people with the name Takashi, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,863 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 Takashi 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 Takashi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Takashi leans strongly male. 1,564 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 43 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Takashi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Takashi is Asian/Pacific Islander at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (5.6%) and Black (3.5%). 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 Takashi most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Takashi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (1,405 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 Takashi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Takashi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Takashi 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 Takashi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Takashi 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 Takashi 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 Takashi?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Takashi at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.