Explore the Family Name Koyanagi

The meaning of Koyanagi

Japanese: written 小柳 ‘small willows’. It is found mostly in eastern Japan. Some families pronounce the name Oyanagi. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Akira, Ikuko, Junichi, Kaoru, Kenji, Kosaku, Masaaki, Masaru, Mitsue, Mitsuhiro, Mitsuji, Shinichi.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Koyanagi saw a slight decline between 2000 and 2010. The rank of the surname dropped from 57,544 in 2000 to 62,045 in 2010, indicating a decrease in its prevalence by approximately 7.82%. In terms of count, or how many people carried this surname, there was also a modest drop from 331 in 2000 to 323 in 2010, a decline of about 2.42%. The proportion of this surname per 100,000 people also fell by 8.33% over this decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#57,544	#62,045	-7.82%
Count	331	323	-2.42%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.11	-8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Koyanagi

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Koyanagi is primarily Asian/Pacific Islander, as highlighted in the Decennial U.S. Census data. However, there was a slight decrease in this association from 86.10% in 2000 to 84.83% in 2010. Interestingly, the number of individuals identifying as two or more races increased by 14.39%, moving from 7.85% in 2000 to 8.98% in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as White slightly decreased from 4.83% to 4.64%. The data for 2010 also shows a small emergence of Hispanic identification at 1.55%, whereas it was non-existent in the 2000 census data. There were no associations with Black, American Indian, and Alaskan Native identities in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	86.1%	84.83%	-1.48%
Two or More Races	7.85%	8.98%	14.39%
White	4.83%	4.64%	-3.93%
Hispanic	0%	1.55%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%