Hello, Mr. Yamamoto. This is an explanation of the origin of the surname Yamamoto, which is shared by your ancestors and friends.

This is another surname with the same pronunciation but different kanji characters.

Unlike the common Yamamoto in Japan (where the second character is “本” meaning “book”), this one uses “元” meaning ‘origin’ or “source.”

Its origin is said to be primarily from the area around Okinawa, where the Ryukyu Kingdom once existed, extending to the Tokara Islands, due to its prevalence in Kagoshima Prefecture. A leading theory suggests it derives from the geographical feature “at the foot of the mountain,” and these branches likely spread to Kagoshima over generations.
Its strong association with the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Domain, which ruled Kagoshima during the Edo period, serves as evidence for this.

Nationwide, 23,000 people bear this surname.
That’s enough to fill the O2 Arena in the UK.
Compared to all surnames in Japan, this is a relatively small number.

Classifica dei cognomi nippo-americani (indagine dell'Ufficio del Censimento degli Stati Uniti, 1990)

In English-speaking countries, surnames are grouped by pronunciation.

	Cognome	Kanji	Supplemento
1	Tanaka		4° in Giappone
2	Yamamoto		8° in Giappone
3	Nakamura	・・・	7° in Giappone
4	Watanabe	・・・	6° in Giappone
5	Sato		Primo in Giappone
6	Yamada		12° in Giappone
7	Kimura	(scritto in verticale)	17° in Giappone
8	Suzuki	(scritto in verticale)	Secondo in Giappone
9	Kato		10° in Giappone
10	Yoshida		11° in Giappone
11	Takahashi		3° in Giappone
12	Higa		Primo posto a Okinawa , in Giappone.
13	Kobayashi		9° in Giappone
14	Nakano	・・・	46° in Giappone
15	Hayashi		20° posto in Giappone
16	Hashimoto		24° in Giappone
17	Saito	・・・	19° in Giappone
18	Sasaki		13° in Giappone
19	Mori	・・・	22° in Giappone
20	Matsumoto	(scritto in verticale)	15° in Giappone