Kobayashi (written: lit. "small forest") is the 8th most common Japanese surname. A less common variant is . Notable people with the surname include:

Art figures

Film, television, theater and music

*, Japanese actress and voice actress *, Japanese actor *, Japanese actor *, Japanese musician *, Japanese actor *, Japanese voice actress *, Japanese actor *, Japanese comedian and actor *, Japanese comedian, actor, dramaturge, theatre director and manga artist *, Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator *, Japanese film director *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese dancer and actor *, Japanese actor *, Japanese actress *, Japanese actress *, Japanese actress and voice actress *, Japanese musician *, Japanese actress *, Japanese actor *, Japanese musician *, Japanese singer and model *, Japanese actress *, Japanese voice actress *, Japanese voice actress

Literature

Audrey Kobayashi Audrey Lynn Kobayashi (born 1951 in British Columbia) is a Canadian professor and author, specializing in geography, geopolitics, and racial and gender studies. She was the vice-president of the Canadian Association of Geographers from 1999 to ...

(born 1951), Canadian geographer and writer *, Japanese writer and literary critic *, Japanese chef and food writer *, Japanese poet *, Japanese writer and communist *

Tamai Kobayashi Tamai Kobayashi (born 1966 in Japan) is a Canadian writer, who won the Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers in 2014. Kobayashi was co-editor with Mona Oikawa of ''All Names Spoken'', an anthology of lesbian writing published by Sister Vision Pr ...

(born 1965), Canadian writer *, Japanese screenwriter *, Japanese writer

Music

*, Japanese singer and voice actress *, Japanese classical pianist *, Japanese actress and singer * Hana Kobayashi (born 1982), Venezuelan singer *, Japanese jazz saxophonist and flautist *, Japanese music producer, better known as

Kobametal , better known by his pseudonym Kobametal, is a Japanese music producer under the talent agency Amuse, Inc. He is best known as the producer of the kawaii metal group Babymetal. Biography Kobayashi's interest in heavy metal music started aroun ...

*, Japanese model, actress and singer * Ron Kobayashi, American jazz pianist *, Japanese enka singer and voice actress *, Japanese voice actress and singer *, Japanese video game composer and pianist * Satoru Kobayashi (disambiguation), multiple people *, Japanese classical composer *, Japanese keyboardist, lyricist, composer, arranger and record producer *, Japanese roboticist *, Japanese voice actress and singer

Other artists

*, Japanese artist *, Japanese ukiyo-e painter and printmaker *, Japanese painter *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese artist *

Kunio Kobayashi (bonsai artist) is a Japanese bonsai artist, and the owner of the Shunkaen Bonsai Museum in Tokyo. Life Kobayashi was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1948. His family was involved in floriculture, and he grew up working in a nursery. In 1976, at age 28, he saw a ...

(born 1948), Japanese bonsai artist *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese artist *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese photographer *

Robert Kobayashi Robert Kobayashi (1925–2015) was a Hawaiʻi-born artist who made abstract expressionism, abstract expressionist paintings at the beginning of his career and later produced pointillism, pointillist paintings and pointillist-derived sculptu ...

(1925–2015), American artist *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese Canadian creative

Military figures

*, Japanese samurai *, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral *, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral and Governor-General of Taiwan

Politics and law figures

* Ann Kobayashi (born 1937), American politician and businesswoman *

Bert T. Kobayashi Bert Takaaki Kobayashi Sr. (July 8, 1916 – October 6, 2005) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii from July 17, 1969, to December 29, 1978.Richard Borreca, "Attorney was 'strong right arm' for Gov. Burns", ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' (Oc ...

(1916–2005), Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii * Bertrand Kobayashi (fl. 2010s), American politician *

Leslie E. Kobayashi Leslie Emi Kobayashi (born October 9, 1957) is a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii. Early life and education Kobayashi was born in 1957 in Mount Holly Township, New Jersey. She received h ...

(born 1957), American judge *, Japanese politician *, Japanese politician

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics figures

*, Japanese electrical engineer and computer scientist *

Kevin Wesley Kobayashi Kevin Wesley Kobayashi from RF Micro Devices, Torrance, California, was named Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2013 ''for contributions to monolithic microwave integrated circuit Monolithic microwave in ...

, American engineer *, Japanese academic *, Japanese-American mathematician *

Riki Kobayashi Riki Kobayashi (1924–2013) was a chemical engineer and a long-time professor of chemical engineering at Rice University. A native of Harris County, Texas, he attended Rice University (then known as Rice Institute) and earned the Bachelor of ...

(1924–2013), American chemical engineer *

Makoto Kobayashi is a Japanese physicist known for his work on CP-violation who was awarded one-fourth of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quar ...

(born 1944), Japanese physicist *, Japanese amateur astronomer *, Japanese computer scientist *, Japanese astronomer *, Japanese mathematician

Sports figures

Baseball

*, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese baseball player

Football (soccer)

*, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer * Hiroki Kobayashi (footballer, born 1992), Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *

Paulinho Kobayashi Paulo Ricardo Kobayashi (born 9 January 1970), known as Paulinho Kobayashi, is a Brazilian football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current head coach of Ferroviário. Kobayashi began his career with Associação Des ...

(born 1970), Brazilian footballer *, Japanese women's footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer and manager *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer and manager *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese women's footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer * Yugo Kobayashi (footballer) (born 1991), Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *

Zach Kobayashi Zachary Kobayashi (born August 20, 1997) is an American soccer player. Career On April 20, 2017, Kobayashi joined United Soccer League side Orange County SC from the Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb ...

(born 1997), American soccer player

Wrestling

*, or Yosuke Kobayashi, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese professional wrestler *, also known as Hideo Itami, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese sport wrestler

Other

* , Japanese synchronized swimmer *

Celes Kobayashi Celes Kobayashi (セレス小林, born Shoji Kobayashi, February 27, 1973) is a former professional boxer from Ibaraki, Japan. He is a former WBA Super flyweight champion. He got his ring name, "Celes", from a company he used to work for. He ...

(born 1974), Japanese boxer *, Japanese basketball player *

Dawn Kobayashi Dawn Marie Kobayashi (born 18 June 1971 in Kingston) is a Jamaican sport shooter. She has been selected to compete for Jamaica at the 2004 Summer Olympics, setting a historic milestone as the nation's first ever sport shooter after forty years. ...

(born 1971), Jamaican sport shooter *

Etsuko Kobayashi Etsuko Kobayashi (born 10 April 1992) is a Japanese cricketer. She played for Japanese cricket team in the 2013 Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier. She was also the part of the national team at the 2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2 ...

(born 1992), Japanese cricketer *, Japanese golfer *, Japanese middle-distance runner *, Japanese sprint canoeist *, Japanese slalom canoeist *, Japanese Go player *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racewalker *, racing driver *, Japanese diver *, Japanese shogi player *

Kensuke Kobayashi Kensuke (written: 健介, 健輔, 謙介, 謙佑, 建介, 賢介, 賢輔 or 賢典) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese rugby union player and coach ...

(born 1986), Japanese cricketer *, Japanese gymnast *, Japanese Go player * Kunio Kobayashi (karateka) (born 1967), Japanese karateka *, Japanese rower *, Japanese cyclist *, Japanese golfer *, Japanese biathlete *, Japanese squash player *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese three-cushion billiards player *, Japanese Nordic combined skier *, Japanese figure skater and coach *, Japanese Go player *

Royal Kobayashi , better known as Royal Kobayashi, is a retired Japanese boxer who competed at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in the featherweight division, and won the Lineal and WBC junior featherweight titles in 1976. He is an alumnus of the Takushoku Univers ...

(born 1949), Japanese boxer * Ryosei Kobayashi (born 1994), Japanese squash player *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanesebobsledder *, Japanese sport shooter *, Japanese judoka *, Japanese competitive eater *, Japanese aikidoka *, Japanese softball player *, Japanese badminton player *, Japanese cyclist *, Japanese middle- and long-distance runner *, Japanese basketball player

Others

*, Japanese gravure idol *, Japanese AV idol *, Japanese industrialist *, Japanese idol *, Japanese economist *, Japanese businessman *, Japanese conductor and composer *

Sanzaburo Kobayashi Sanzaburo Kobayashi (also romanized as Sansaburo) (小林参三郎) (1863 1926) was a Japanese surgeon. He founded hospitals in Hawaii and Japan, and also founded the Seizasha Dojo. Biography Kobayashi was born in 1863 in Harima, Japan to a fa ...

(小林参三郎, 1863–1926), Japanese surgeon *, Japanese journalist *, Japanese businessman *, Japanese fashion model

Fictional characters

*, a character in the manga series ''The Law of Ueki'' *, the protagonist in the manga series '' Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid'' *Kobayashi, a character in the film '' The Usual Suspects'' *, a character in the manga series ''

Doki Doki School Hours is a Japanese four-panel manga series by Tamami Momose. The manga was serialized in ''Manga Life'' and published by Takeshobo from 1997 to 2013. An anime television series adaptation was animated by J.C.Staff and aired on TV Tokyo from Apr ...

'' *

Amiko Kobayashi Kaecilius Elloe Kaifi Kala Jennifer Kale Noble Kale Kaluu Kamikaze Kamran Kamran is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by G. Willow Wilson and Takeshi Miyazawa and firs ...

, a character in Marvel Comics *Atari Kobayashi, a character in the film ''

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

'' *Daigo Kobayashi, a character in the film ''Departures'' *, a character in the anime series ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' *, a character in the manga series ''

Cheeky Angel is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Nishimori. The story revolves around the adventures of 15-year-old schoolgirl Megumi Amatsuka, a popular and beautiful tomboy that always get into fights with a secret: she used to ...

'' * and , characters in the manga series ''Angelic Layer'' *Koji Kobayashi, a character in the film ''

Godzilla Raids Again is a 1955 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Motoyoshi Oda, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd., it is the second film in the ''Godzilla'' franchise. The film stars Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Waka ...

'' *Masafumi Kobayashi, a character in the film '' Noroi: The Curse'' *, a character in the media franchise ''

Project 575 is a multimedia project created by Sega that utilizes Vocaloid voice synthesizers in order to create traditional 5-7-5 ''tanka'' and ''haiku'' poems. It consists of an iPhone app titled , released on July 26, 2013, as well as a PlayStation Vi ...

'' *, a character in the manga series ''Please Save My Earth'' *, protagonist of the manga series ''

Kemeko Deluxe! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mangaka, manga artist Masakazu Iwasaki. The manga began serialization in the monthly ''shōnen'' List of manga magazines, manga magazine ''Dengeki Comic Gao!'' on October 27, 2005, and i ...

'' *, a character in the manga series ''Case Closed'' *, also known as Washu Hakubi, a character in ''Tenchi Muyō!'' media

References

{{Surname Japanese-language surnames