How rare is the name Yael?

7,524 people in the United States have the first name Yael, about 1 in 40,142. It ranks #2,983 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

YAEL

#2,983

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
7,524
About
1 in 40,142
This common or more
81.4%
Who bears it

Of the 7,524 people named Yael, 49.2% reported their origin as Hispanic or Latino, 45.1% as White and 3.4% as Black. 58% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Yael peaked in 2023, when 472 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19542025
Peak year
2023
Births that year
472
In 2025*
431 ▼9%
Recorded as
used for both

At least 9,708 babies have been given the name since 1954. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Yael by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 2020s, when it ranked #1,359. The largest share of babies named Yael, 48.5%, were born in 2013 or later.

1950s#11,06318
1960s#5,073154
1970s#3,621359
1980s#3,232543
1990s#3,371704
2000s#1,8912,258
2010s#1,5813,235
2020s#1,3592,437
Baby boom 1946–640.7%
Generation X 1965–805.3%
Millennials 1981–969.6%
Generation Z 1997–1235.9%
2013 and later48.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Yael is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Yael has been most common in New York (3.2×), Arizona (2.7×), and California (2.5×), and least common in Indiana (0.18×).

6,980 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Yael

#2,981 Amya · 7,536#2,982 Braulio · 7,526#2,984 Danial · 7,521#2,985 Hasan · 7,518

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Yael, most common first.

#16,872 Yahel · 662#43,210 Yaeli · 164

Compare