Explore the Family Name Otani

The meaning of Otani

Japanese: 1. written 小谷 ‘small valley’. It is more usually pronounced Kotani or Koya. All three forms are from western Japan. 2. (Ōtani): written 大谷 ‘large valley’. It is mainly found in western Japan. Pronunciation Ōya is found in eastern Japan. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Kazuo, Akira, Hajime, Hideo, Hiromi, Ichiro, Masato, Masatoshi, Noboru, Noriko, Shigeo, Shozo.

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

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

The surname Otani, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, it ranked 27,771st and fell to 30,799th by 2010, marking a 10.9% drop. The total count of individuals with this surname also dipped by 7.24%, from 815 in 2000 to 756 in 2010. As a result, the proportion of people named Otani per 100,000 decreased by 13.33%, from 0.3 to 0.26.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#27,771	#30,799	-10.9%
Count	815	756	-7.24%
Proportion per 100k	0.3	0.26	-13.33%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Otani

In terms of ethnic identity, the majority of individuals with the surname Otani identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. This community saw a minor 0.6% decrease from 2000 to 2010, shifting from 77.18% to 76.72%. Significantly, those identifying with two or more races surged by 70.47%, increasing from 6.13% to 10.45% over the same period. There was a noticeable decline of 32.32% within the White community, while the percentage of Hispanic individuals increased slightly by 3.08%. There were no individuals identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	77.18%	76.72%	-0.6%
Two or More Races	6.13%	10.45%	70.47%
White	10.55%	7.14%	-32.32%
Hispanic	5.52%	5.69%	3.08%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%