Explore the Family Name Nagai

The meaning of Nagai

Japanese: written 長井 or 永井, both meaning ‘long’ and ‘well’. Bearers of either form of the name appear to be descended from either the Saito or Miura families. This name is now also established in Hawaii. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Takao, Takashi, Akira, Hideaki, Hideo, Hideyuki, Hirokazu, Isami, Masao, Nobuyuki, Reiko, Shigeru.

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

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

The Nagai surname saw a slight decrease in popularity according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, it was the 28,790th most common surname in the United States, but by 2010 it had dropped to the 30,630th position, marking a 6.39% drop in rank. The count of people with this surname also decreased during this period from 778 to 761, a 2.19% decrease. Consequently, the proportion of individuals named Nagai per 100,000 people declined by 10.34%, from 0.29 to 0.26.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#28,790	#30,630	-6.39%
Count	778	761	-2.19%
Proportion per 100k	0.29	0.26	-10.34%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Nagai

In terms of ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that a majority of the Nagais identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, although there was a slight decrease in this demographic by 1.01% between 2000 and 2010. People identifying as two or more races saw a significant increase, jumping from 5.27% in 2000 to 7.75% in 2010, a change of 47.06%. On the other hand, the percentage of Nagais who identified as White fell by 18.59% over the same period. Meanwhile, the percentage of those identifying as Hispanic increased slightly from 1.03% to 1.05%. The percentages of Black and American Indian/Alaskan Natives remained at zero in both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	85.35%	84.49%	-1.01%
Two or More Races	5.27%	7.75%	47.06%
White	8.23%	6.7%	-18.59%
Hispanic	1.03%	1.05%	1.94%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%