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Family-name guide

Japanese Last Names & Surnames

Explore Japanese last names—also called Japanese surnames or family names—through their kanji, literal meanings, origin types, and evidence-aware stories. A shared spelling does not prove shared ancestry.

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Japanese family names

220 matches

Surname formats

Romanized form

Abe

Japanese form

阿部

あべ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 部: section, bureau, dept

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abenaka

Japanese form

安倍中

あべなか

Meaning

安: relax, cheap, low; 倍: double, twice, times; 中: in, inside, middle

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abeshima

Japanese form

阿部島

あべしま

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 部: section, bureau, dept; 島: island

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abeyama

Japanese form

阿部山

あべやま

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 部: section, bureau, dept; 山: mountain

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abeyama

Japanese form

阿辺山

あべやま

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 辺: environs, boundary, border; 山: mountain

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abuki

Japanese form

阿武木

あぶき

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 武: warrior, military, chivalry; 木: tree, wood

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Abuyama

Japanese form

阿生山

あぶやま

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 生: life, genuine, birth; 山: mountain

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Ada

Japanese form

亜田

あだ

Meaning

亜: Asia, rank next, come after; 田: rice field, rice paddy

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Ada

Japanese form

阿田

あだ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 田: rice field, rice paddy

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Origin not inferred from kanjiUse in generator

Surname formats

Romanized form

Adagawa

Japanese form

阿田川

あだがわ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 田: rice field, rice paddy; 川: stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Adegawa

Japanese form

阿出川

あでがわ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 出: exit, leave, go out; 川: stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Adekawa

Japanese form

阿出川

あでかわ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 出: exit, leave, go out; 川: stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)

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Origin not inferred from kanjiUse in generator

Surname formats

Romanized form

Ado

Japanese form

亜戸

あど

Meaning

亜: Asia, rank next, come after; 戸: door, counter for houses, door radical (no. 63)

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Agata

Japanese form

阿我田

あがた

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 我: ego, I, selfish; 田: rice field, rice paddy

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Surname formats

Romanized form

Agata

Japanese form

阿賀田

あがた

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 賀: congratulations, joy; 田: rice field, rice paddy

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Origin not inferred from kanjiUse in generator

Surname formats

Romanized form

Agawa

Japanese form

亜川

あがわ

Meaning

亜: Asia, rank next, come after; 川: stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)

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Origin not inferred from kanjiUse in generator

Surname formats

Romanized form

Agawa

Japanese form

阿川

あがわ

Meaning

阿: Africa, flatter, fawn upon; 川: stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)

Source-backed recordunrankeduncertain
Origin not inferred from kanjiUse in generator

What a literal meaning can tell us

Many Japanese family names use geographic vocabulary such as mountain, river, field, village, or bridge. That makes the written form interpretable, but it does not identify one birthplace or one founding family without additional records.

Why confidence labels matter

We separate well-documented history from common interpretation, multiple possible origins, literal-only explanation, and uncertainty. Regional maps appear only when a distribution source is attached.

Find a surname, then try a full name

Search by kanji, hiragana, or romaji to find a family name. Use the page links to browse the full collection, or choose “Use in generator” to keep a surname while trying different given names. Origin stories explain the available historical evidence separately from literal character meanings.