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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Japanese : ‘rice paddy to the side’, also pronounced Yokoda; it is found throughout Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands. Several families have samurai or noble connections, and there are two very old families of Suruga (now part of Shizuoka prefecture) and Musashi (present-day Tōkyō–Saitama prefectures).

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