Tomiko
A Japanese feminine name meaning "wise, beautiful child".
Name Census estimates that about 517 living Americans carry the first name Tomiko. It is a predominantly female name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Tomiko today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tomiko births was 1975 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tomiko. 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
517
~ 1 in 662,968 Americans
Peak year
1975
61 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
1975 SSA rank
#4,763
Tracked since 1912
Census
Tomiko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,031 people with the first name Tomiko, which placed it at #12,175 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
#12,175
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,031 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
49.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tomiko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tomiko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.8%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). 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 Tomiko 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 Tomiko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander49.8% · 513
- Black or African American33.1% · 341
- Two or more races9.1% · 94
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 48
- White2.9% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Tomiko
Out of the 925 babies given the name Tomiko since 1880, 99.2% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Tomiko as a male name
- Ranked #4,763 in 1975
- 7 male births in 1975
- Peak: 1975 (7 births)
Tomiko as a female name
- Ranked #17,786 in 2001
- 5 female births in 2001
- Peak: 1968 (60 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tomiko leans strongly female. 995 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 32 male bearers (3.1%).
Popularity
Tomiko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tomiko from the 1910s through to the 2000s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 322 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tomiko 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 Tomiko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tomikos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Hawaii, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Tomiko, while Mississippi, Louisiana, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tomiko
The name Tomiko is a Japanese given name with roots dating back centuries. It is derived from the Japanese words "tomi," meaning wealth or fortune, and "ko," a common suffix used in feminine names. The name is believed to have originated during the Heian period (794-1185 AD) when Japanese names were heavily influenced by Chinese characters and their associated meanings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Tomiko can be found in the Genpei Josuiki, a historical text from the late 12th century that chronicles the Genpei War between the Minamoto and Taira clans. The text mentions a woman named Tomiko who was a close attendant to the warlord Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
In the 16th century, during the Sengoku period, a woman named Tomiko Narahara played a significant role in the life of the famous warlord Oda Nobunaga. Tomiko was a concubine and later wife of Nobunaga, and she was known for her intelligence and influence within his inner circle.
Another notable figure named Tomiko was Tomiko Makino (1863-1924), a Japanese educator and women's rights activist. She was one of the first women in Japan to receive a higher education and worked tirelessly to promote educational opportunities for women.
In the world of literature, the name Tomiko appears in several works by renowned Japanese authors. One example is the character Tomiko Inoue in the novel "The Makioka Sisters" by Junichiro Tanizaki, published in 1943-1948. The novel provides a glimpse into the lives of the upper-class Makioka family in the years leading up to World War II.
Another famous individual named Tomiko was Tomiko Miyao (1928-2000), a Japanese artist known for her intricate and colorful woodblock prints. Her works captured traditional Japanese motifs and landscapes, and she was recognized both nationally and internationally for her contributions to the art world.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Tomiko, a name that has endured across centuries and continues to be bestowed upon Japanese children to this day.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tomiko
People
Tomiko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tomiko 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
Tomiko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tomiko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 517 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tomiko 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 662,968 US residents.
Is Tomiko a common name?
We classify Tomiko as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 925 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tomiko most popular?
The single biggest year for Tomiko was 1975, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tomiko is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tomiko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,031 people with the name Tomiko, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,175 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 Tomiko 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 Tomiko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tomiko leans strongly female. 995 people counted with this name were female (96.9%), compared with 32 male bearers (3.1%). 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 Tomiko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tomiko is Asian/Pacific Islander at 49.8%. The next largest groups are Black (33.1%) and Two or More Races (9.1%). 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 Tomiko most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Tomiko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.8% (513 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 Tomiko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tomiko a female name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Tomiko 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 Tomiko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tomiko 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 Tomiko 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 the name Tomiko?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Tomiko, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.