Japanese last names ending in -bayashi / -hayashi

The kanji 林 means grove, woods. At the end of a surname it is read bayashi or hayashi, depending on the sound before it. Like most Japanese surnames, names ending in it describe where a family lived. Kobayashi (小林) is 小 small + 林 grove; Wakabayashi (若林) is 若 young + 林 grove; Nakabayashi (中林) is 中 middle + 林 grove.

The list is ordered by how many notable people on Wikidata share each surname, so the most familiar names come first. Surnames from Japan's 100 most common are linked to their own pages.