Explore the Family Name Tengan

The meaning of Tengan

Japanese: written 天願 ‘heavenly prayer’. It occurs chiefly in the Ryūkyū islands and is possibly taken from a river and nearby village so named on the island of Okinawa. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Shigeo, Yoshio, Eizo, Goro, Haruo, Katsuko, Kenjiro, Masanori, Mitsue, Nobuo, Sadako, Sakaye.

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

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

The surname Tengan saw a slight decrease in popularity in the United States between 2000 and 2010, according to data based on the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, it was ranked as the 40,833rd most common name and this fell to 43,151st in 2010, a drop of 5.68%. The actual count of people with the Tengan surname also decreased slightly from 504 in 2000 to 501 in 2010, representing a minimal decline of 0.6%. Consequently, the proportion of people named Tengan per 100,000 individuals in the population dropped by 10.53%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#40,833	#43,151	-5.68%
Count	504	501	-0.6%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.17	-10.53%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tengan

In terms of ethnic identity, the Tengan surname is most commonly associated with the Asian/Pacific Islander group, although its percentage dropped from 82.14% in 2000 to 77.45% in 2010, as per the Decennial U.S. Census. The percent of people with the Tengan surname identifying as two or more races increased significantly during this period, rising from 10.12% to 13.57%. The proportion of those identifying as white decreased marginally from 6.55% to 5.99%. There were also small increases in the number of Tengans identifying as Hispanic or Black, while those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native remained static at 0%.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	82.14%	77.45%	-5.71%
Two or More Races	10.12%	13.57%	34.09%
White	6.55%	5.99%	-8.55%
Black	0%	2%	0%
Hispanic	0%	1%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%