Shima

Family name origins & meanings

• Japanese : meaning ‘island’; it is often written with characters used phonetically. The word does not necessarily denote an island surrounded by water, but can also mean a field separated from its village and surrounded by someone else’s property (see Shimada, Nakashima, etc.). The surname is listed in the Shinsen shōjiroku. It is found mostly in the Kyōto–Ōsaka area and in the Ryūkyū Islands. Some instances in America may be the result of shortening other names containing the shima component.