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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Japanese (common in western Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands) : from a common place name; many bearers therefore may be unrelated. According to folklore, a habitation near a pine tree (matsu) from which a deity would issue to visit mortals would be named Matsumoto: ‘place of the (divine) pine tree’. See also Matsuda and Matsuoka.

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