Kobayashi (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: , 'small woods') is the 8th most common

Japanese surname Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. A less common variant is . Notable people with the surname include:

Arts

Film, television, theater and music

*, Japanese actress and voice actress *, Japanese actor *, Japanese actor *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese voice 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 *, Japanese voice actor

Literature

* Audrey Kobayashi (born 1951), Canadian geographer and writer *, Japanese writer and literary critic *, Japanese chef and food writer *, Japanese poet *, Japanese writer and communist * Tamai Kobayashi (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 *, 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) (小林國雄 born 1948), Japanese bonsai artist *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese artist *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese photographer * Robert Kobayashi (1925–2015), American artist *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese anime director *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese photographer

Military

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

Politics and law

* Ann Kobayashi (born 1937), American politician and businesswoman * Bert T. Kobayashi (1916–2005), Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii * Bertrand Kobayashi (fl. 2010s), American politician * Leslie E. Kobayashi (born 1957), American judge *, Japanese politician, 6th Mayor of

Niitsu, Niigata was a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The city itself was founded on January 1, 1951, but the area had already been opened to railway traffic as early as November 20, 1897. As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 66,058 and ...

*, Japanese politician *, Japanese politician

Scientists and engineers

* Albert S. Kobayashi (1924–2025), American engineer and scientist *, Japanese electrical engineer and computer scientist * Kevin Wesley Kobayashi, American engineer *, Japanese academic *

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 ...

(小林誠 born 1944), Japanese physicist *

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 *, Japanese-American mathematician *, Japanese amateur astronomer *, Japanese computer scientist *, Japanese astronomer *, Japanese mathematician

Sports

Baseball

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

Football (soccer)

*, 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. Kobayashi began his career with Associação Desportiva São Caetano. He played for Portugu ...

(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 women's footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer * Yugo Kobayashi (footballer) (born 1991), Japanese footballer * Yuki Kobayashi (football, born 2000), Japanese footballer *, Japanese footballer * Zach Kobayashi (born 1997), American soccer player

Mind sports

*, Japanese Go player *, Japanese shogi player *, Japanese Go player *, Japanese Go player

Winter sports

*, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese biathlete *, Japanese Nordic combined skier *, Japanese figure skater and coach *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese bobsledder

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 athletes

* , 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 li ...

(born 1974), Japanese boxer *, Japanese basketball player * Dawn Kobayashi (born 1971), Jamaican sport shooter * Etsuko Kobayashi (born 1992), Japanese cricketer *, Japanese golfer *, Japanese middle-distance runner *, Japanese sprint canoeist *, Japanese slalom canoeist *, Japanese racewalker *, racing driver *, Japanese diver *, Japanese gymnast * Kunio Kobayashi (karateka) (小林國雄 born 1967), Japanese karateka *, Japanese rower *, Japanese cyclist *, Japanese golfer *, Japanese squash player *, Japanese swimmer *, Japanese three-cushion billiards player *

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

(born 1949), Japanese boxer * Ryosei Kobayashi (born 1994), Japanese squash player *, 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 * Hannah Kobayashi (born 1994), American missing person *, Japanese AV idol *, Japanese industrialist *, Japanese idol *, Japanese economist *, Japanese businessman *, Japanese conductor and composer * Sanzaburo Kobayashi (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 , also known as ''The Maid Dragon of Kobayashi-san'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Coolkyousinnjya. The series began serialization in Futabasha's '' Monthly Action'' magazine since May 2013 until 2024 when ...

'' *Kobayashi, a character in the film ''

The Usual Suspects ''The Usual Suspects'' is a 1995 crime thriller film directed by Bryan Singer and written by Christopher McQuarrie. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite and Kevin S ...

'' *, 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 Ap ...

'' * Amiko Kobayashi, 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. It includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Haml ...

'' *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. It was serialized in Shogakukan's manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' from June 1999 to August 2003, with its chapters were collected in 20 volumes. The story ...

'' * 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, and a sequel to ''Godzilla'' (1954). The fi ...

'' *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 V ...

'' *, a character in the manga series ''Please Save My Earth'' *, protagonist of the manga series '' Kemeko Deluxe!'' *Sashi Kobayashi, a character in the Disney XD animated series '' Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero'' *, a character in the manga series ''Case Closed'' *Tamami Kobayashi (小林玉美) a side character in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable *, also known as

Washu Hakubi The following is a list of the major characters from the anime and manga series ''Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki'' and its spin-offs ''Tenchi Muyo! GXP'', ''Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar'', '' Tenchi Universe'', '' Tenchi in Tokyo'', and '' Ai Tenchi Muyo!' ...

, a character in ''Tenchi Muyō!'' media

References

{{Surname Japanese-language surnames