Explore the Family Name Japhet

The meaning of Japhet

Jewish and African (e.g. Tanzania and Nigeria): from the Biblical personal name Japhet, a variant of Japheth, a Latinized form of Hebrew Yepet, Yapet, borne by one of the three sons of Noah.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Japhet in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Japhet saw a slight decrease in its popularity from 2000 to 2010. The rank of the surname dropped by 1.7%, moving from 72,237th in 2000 to 73,464th in 2010. However, the number of people with the Japhet surname increased by approximately 5.18% during this period, escalating from 251 individuals in 2000 to 264 in 2010. Despite this increase, the proportion of individuals named Japhet per 100,000 people remained at a steady rate of 0.09.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#72,237	#73,464	-1.7%
Count	251	264	5.18%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.09	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Japhet

The ethnic identity of those bearing the Japhet surname also saw some changes between 2000 and 2010, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. Throughout this period, there was no recorded Asian/Pacific Islander or Hispanic ethnicity associated with the name. There was also no change noted for people identifying as belonging to two or more races. However, there was a small decline of 3.63% in the number of White individuals with this surname, dropping from 88.05% in 2000 to 84.85% in 2010. On the other hand, Black individuals with the last name Japhet saw an impressive increase of 117.20%, from 2.79% in 2000 to 6.06% in 2010. Additionally, there was a 29.03% rise in American Indian and Alaskan Native individuals bearing the surname, moving from 5.58% in 2000 to 7.20% in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	88.05%	84.85%	-3.63%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	5.58%	7.2%	29.03%
Black	2.79%	6.06%	117.2%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%