Given name & surname · also Japanese

Yamato

“mountains”

Yamato is a masculine given name, possibly from Japanese, ultimately from Proto-Japonic.

Original Japanese岳斗

Meaning & origin

What it means

Yamato possibly goes back to a word meaning “mountains.”

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Where it comes from

Yamato possibly comes from Japanese, and ultimately from Proto-Japonic.

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

How it developed

Possibly from Japanese 大和 (Yamato), from Proto-Japonic *yamatə.

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 2000. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Yamato through the years

Babies since 1880
129
129 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
2007
11 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
−80%
Cooling
024620002025Highest share 20070.0
Yamato in U.S. Social Security birth records, 2000–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11 in 2007. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 153 as a first name in 2020; 212 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Yamato’s family of names

In Japanese usage, Yamato is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 岳斗. In English usage, Yamato was borrowed from the Japanese form 大和.

Walk Yamato’s family in the name graph

Yamato岳斗大和

Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Across languages 1

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

People named Yamato

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Yamato, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Japanese · Modern

Hayato

Hayato is a masculine given name from Japanese. It is used in English and Czech.

0Not recently recordedCooling

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Armenian · Modern

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0Not recently recorded

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>99% boys

Macedonian · Modern

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“to last (to endure, continue over time)”

0Not recently recordedEasing

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Yamato’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Yamato

A sister for Yamato