# Abe (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/abe/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Japanese.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Japanese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,938 |
| US rank (2010) | 10,837 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 105,087 people |
| Change since 2000 | -2.0% (2,998 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /eɪb/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

A shortening from Abraham. In the slang sense for money, refers to the picture of Abraham Lincoln on the currency.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Abe in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 19% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 63% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.9% |
| Two or more races | 8.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Abe in Japan and the Empire of Japan.

## People named Abe

- Sada Abe, 20th-century Japanese murderer
- Noriyuki Abe, anime director
- Tadashi Abe, Aikido master

## Similar surnames

Abbey, Abbe, Aube, Ayoub, Appiah, Avey.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.