Languages › Japanese Top 20 Japanese Surnames Print James Porter / Getty Images Japanese History & Culture Essential Japanese Vocabulary Japanese Grammar By Namiko Abe Namiko Abe Japanese Language Expert B.A., Kwansei Gakuin University Namiko Abe is a Japanese language teacher and translator, as well as a Japanese calligraphy expert. She has been a freelance writer for nearly 20 years. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on April 04, 2019 Ever wondered what the Japanese equivalent of "Smith" is? Here is the list of the top 20 most common Japanese surnames. It is said that more than a hundred thousand different surnames exist in Japanese, but roughly speaking one out of every ten Japanese has a surname that is listed here. Read More The Top 40 Russian Surnames and Meanings By Maia Nikitina Top 20 Japanese Surnames SatoSuzukiTakahashiTanakaWatanabeItoYamamotoNakamuraKobayashiKatoYoshidaYamadaSasakiYamaguchiSaitoMatsumotoInoueKimuraHayashiShimizu Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Abe, Namiko. "Top 20 Japanese Surnames." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/top-japanese-surnames-2028100. Abe, Namiko. (2020, August 26). Top 20 Japanese Surnames. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/top-japanese-surnames-2028100 Abe, Namiko. "Top 20 Japanese Surnames." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/top-japanese-surnames-2028100 (accessed April 24, 2024). copy citation