How common is the surname Kobayashi?

3,845 people in the United States had the surname Kobayashi in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 80,298 Americans. It ranked 8,568th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Kobayashi?

Yutaka Kobayashi, actor, singer and presenter from Japan.

Where is the surname Kobayashi most common?

Wikidata records people named Kobayashi in Japan.

Is the surname Kobayashi getting more or less common?

More common. 3,772 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,845 in 2010, up 1.9%.

The surname Kobayashi

A Japanese surname, carried by 3,845 people in the United States.

4 syllables Soundex K120

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kobayashi is more common than 94.7% of them.

Origin

Japanese origin

Borrowed from Japanese 小林 (Kobayashi).

One of 123 Japanese surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 3,845 people named Kobayashi in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 80,298 Americans. That is up 1.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 3,772.

#8,568

rank among US surnames

3,845

people in 2010

1.3

per 100,000 Americans

+1.9%

change since 2000 (was #8,097)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#8,559	Defelice	3,848	80,235
#8,562	Manrique	3,847	80,256
#8,567	Fitz	3,846	80,277
#8,568	Kobayashi	3,845	80,298
#8,570	Weathersby	3,844	80,319
#8,572	Schock	3,843	80,340
#8,576	Harty	3,842	80,361

Who is named Kobayashi

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

81% of people named Kobayashi identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 9.2% as two or more races and 5.8% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 81%
Two or more races 9.2%
White (not Hispanic) 5.8%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.9%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Famous Kobayashis

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

Yutaka Kobayashi
Actor, singer and presenter from Japan, born 1989

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Kobayashi

Kobus

Kobayashi has the Soundex code K120, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K120.

Other Japanese surnames

All 123 Japanese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Kobayashi come from?: Borrowed from Japanese 小林 (Kobayashi).
How common is the surname Kobayashi?: 3,845 people in the United States had the surname Kobayashi in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 80,298 Americans. It ranked 8,568th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Kobayashi?: In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Kobayashi identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 9.2% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Kobayashi?: Yutaka Kobayashi, actor, singer and presenter from Japan.
Where is the surname Kobayashi most common?: Wikidata records people named Kobayashi in Japan.
Is the surname Kobayashi getting more or less common?: More common. 3,772 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 3,845 in 2010, up 1.9%.