The family name linked to Nintendo, founded in Kyoto by Fusajiro Yamauchi in 1889, is Yamauchi.
Fusajiro Yamauchi established Nintendo as a producer of handmade hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto, Japan. The company’s original name was Nintendo Koppai. Over the following decades, Nintendo expanded beyond playing cards into toys, arcade machines and, eventually, home video games.
The Yamauchi family remained central to Nintendo for much of its early and modern history. Hiroshi Yamauchi became president in 1949 and led the company during its transformation into an international entertainment business. He was succeeded by Satoru Iwata in 2002, ending the family succession tradition. Nintendo is therefore often remembered as a family-founded business even though its later management became professional rather than hereditary.