Ayumi
Feminine · “Japanese "walk”
Ayumi is Japanese and it means a walk — the act of walking, and by extension progress or the way something has come along. It is one of a class of Japanese women's names built from ordinary verbs and nouns rather than from the character-compound tradition, which gives it an unusually plain and direct quality.
How old is the name Ayumi?
Ayumi first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Ayumi alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 600 people named Ayumi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ayumi most popular?
Ayumi peaked in 2023, reaching #4746 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 2,387 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Where it comes from
From ayumu to Ayumi
The story of Ayumi
Japanese naming allows a given name to be written in kanji, in hiragana, or in katakana, and the choice matters: a name in hiragana has the sound and the plain word meaning without the additional shading that specific characters would give. Ayumi is often written that way. It became common in Japan in the later twentieth century and appears in American records among Japanese-American families and, more recently, more widely. The 2023 American figures are recent and small.
Meaning
Japanese "walk, progress, the way one has come"
From the verb ayumu, to walk or to step. The noun ayumi means a walk and is used figuratively for progress or history — the path something has traveled. As with all Japanese names the written characters can vary and can add further sense, but the underlying word is settled.
How the name formed
- ayumu
- あゆみAyumi
Related forms: あゆみ · 歩美
Pronouncing Ayumi
ah-YOO-mee
Three syllables with every vowel short and clear. Japanese has pitch accent rather than stress, so no syllable is emphasized the way English emphasizes; the American approximation puts a light stress on the second.
Nicknames for Ayumi
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1966
- Most girls named
- 202328 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4746reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%15 in 2025, from 15
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Ayumi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- あゆみ in Japanese — same name
- 歩美 in Japanese (kanji) — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Ayumis among us
people named Ayumi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Ayumi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ngozi test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ayumi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ngozi climbed just as high around 1981, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ngozi's path sketches the road Ayumi is walking now.
Ayumi sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Ayumi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ayumi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, plain and quietly appealing — a walk, a path traveled.
- Every syllable is open, which makes it easy in English.
- Ayu and Yumi are both natural short forms.
- English speakers add stress where Japanese has none.
- It is rare in America and will be spelled out constantly.
- The written form in Japanese carries information the romanisation loses.
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What they receive
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Ayumi
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ayumis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Ayumi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ayumi in 2025?
- Ayumi ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ayumi?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Ayumi — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ayumi with classmates?
- Ayumi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ayumi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ayumi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ayumi and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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