Isamu

Boys' name

Brave

Isamu has been given to 562 babies in the U.S. since 1912. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1922, with 40 recorded.

Babies named Isamu, 2023

1 in 552,000

Isamu over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Isamu: meaning, origin, and history

Brave

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Isamu means

Isamu means “brave”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Isamu is used in Japanese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /i.sä.mɯᵝ/ for Isamu.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 562 boys were recorded with the name Isamu between 1912 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 40 in 1922; its best national rank was #1,126 in 1922.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Isamu?

Isamu had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 552,000; 6 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only: 1 in 285,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 382,940 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Isamu sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2023 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 382,940 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Isamu. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Isamus were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Isamu was born before 1923 — so the typical Isamu is around 102 today.

Median birth year: 1923; About 102 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 52.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 7.5%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 47; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 52.5% of all recorded uses (295).

Is Isamu rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1922 (40)
Years since peak: 103; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 27.2% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,126; 1922

Spellings of Isamu

Isamu is not the most common spelling — Isaac is, with 66.3% against Isamu's 0.11%.

Isaac66.3%331,508
Sam25.5%127,234
Isai1.5%7,340
Sami1.1%5,303
Isaak0.85%4,271
Isac0.64%3,203
Isael0.63%3,164
Isa0.63%3,142

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Isamu is used

Across 1910–2025, Isamu was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 2,128 boys, against 1 in 41,568 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in 100,000).

147 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1Hawaii1 in 2,128
2California1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Isamu has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Isamu by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,126; 1922
Peak year: 1922; 40 that year
First recorded: 1912
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 562
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Isamu

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Isaia Isaiha Isaih Isais Isayah Isahi Isauro Isacc Isam Isak Isaah Isair Isael Isaak Isaack Isaic Isack Isaul Isac Isaid Isaiahs Isami Isan Isao

Sibling names for Isamu

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Albertha Bethel Verla Lorine Elvera Rubie Tressie Filomena

For a brother

Trinidad Hobert Harland Walton Elden Cletus Elroy Columbus

Explore around Isamu

Top names of 1922, Isamu's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1922 Boys' names starting with I Japanese Boy Names