Yaelis
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly derived from Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 151 living Americans carry the first name Yaelis. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yaelis today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yaelis births was 2016 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yaelis. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
151
~ 1 in 2,269,896 Americans
Peak year
2016
20 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,121
Tracked since 2005
Popularity
Yaelis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yaelis from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 91 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yaelis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yaelis by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Yaelis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yaelis' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yaelis
The name Yaelis is of Hebrew origin, derived from the Biblical name Yehudit, which means "Jewish woman" or "She Who Belongs to Judah." The earliest known use of the name dates back to ancient Israel during the time of the Old Testament, where it was a relatively common name among Jewish communities.
Yaelis can be traced back to the Hebrew root word "Yehudah," which refers to the ancient Israelite tribe of Judah and the southern kingdom of Judah. The name is closely linked to Jewish identity and heritage, and it was often given to girls as a way to honor their cultural and religious roots.
In the Book of Judith, a deuterocanonical text included in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian traditions, the heroine Judith is known for her bravery and faith. Her story takes place during the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people, and she plays a crucial role in saving her people from oppression. While the name Yaelis is not directly mentioned in this text, the connection to the name Judith and its Hebrew origins is evident.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Yaelis or its variations. One of the earliest recorded examples is Yaelis ben Avraham, a renowned Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Spain during the 12th century. He is known for his contributions to the study of the Talmud and his works on Jewish law and ethics.
Another prominent figure was Yaelis ben Shmuel, a 13th-century Hebrew poet and liturgist from France. He is best known for his liturgical compositions, which were widely used in Jewish communities across Europe during the Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, Yaelis Abravanel was a Portuguese-Jewish scholar and writer who lived in Italy. She was part of the influential Abravanel family and is recognized for her contributions to Jewish literature and her advocacy for women's education.
Yaelis Levinas, born in 1906 and died in 1995, was a Lithuanian-born French philosopher and Talmudic scholar. She is renowned for her work on ethics, metaphysics, and her unique interpretation of Jewish thought and traditions.
Finally, Yaelis Rabin, born in 1914 and died in 2000, was an Israeli activist and the wife of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She played a significant role in promoting peace initiatives and advocating for women's rights in Israel.
People
Yaelis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yaelis as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yaelis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yaelis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 151 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yaelis going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,269,896 US residents.
Is Yaelis a common name?
We classify Yaelis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 152 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yaelis most popular?
The single biggest year for Yaelis was 2016, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yaelis is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Yaelis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yaelis a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yaelis in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Yaelis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yaelis in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Yaelis can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Yaelis?
Find out how many people share the name Yaelis on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.