Explore the Family Name Miya

The meaning of Miya

Japanese: written 三矢 ‘three arrows’, 山谷 ‘three valleys’, or 宮 ‘shrine’, the last being the most common. Some occurrences in America are the result of shortening longer names. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Hideo, Akira, Chizuru, Hisa, Hitoshi, Ikuko, Katsu, Kaz, Kazuhiro, Mako, Masami, Naoko.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Miya saw a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname ranked 58,397th in popularity and dropped to 61,585th by 2010, representing a change of -5.46%. However, despite this drop in rank, the actual count of individuals with the Miya surname increased slightly during the same period from 325 to 326, reflecting a growth of 0.31%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#58,397	#61,585	-5.46%
Count	325	326	0.31%
Proportion per 100k	0.12	0.11	-8.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Miya

Regarding the ethnic identity associated with the surname Miya, data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows that it is most commonly found within the Asian/Pacific Islander community, although there has been a decrease from 71.38% in 2000 to 64.72% in 2010. Interestingly, the proportion of individuals identifying as two or more races saw significant increase, from 8.31% to 12.58%, indicating a growing multicultural connection to the surname. The percentage of those identifying as White also marginally increased from 11.38% to 12.88%, while the Hispanic group saw a modest rise from 5.54% to 5.83%. The surname did not appear among Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native communities during the years surveyed.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	71.38%	64.72%	-9.33%
White	11.38%	12.88%	13.18%
Two or More Races	8.31%	12.58%	51.38%
Hispanic	5.54%	5.83%	5.23%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%