Yailen
A feminine given name of Spanish origin meaning "twin".
Name Census estimates that about 78 living Americans carry the first name Yailen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yailen today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yailen births was 2010 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yailen. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yailen. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
78
~ 1 in 4,394,286 Americans
Peak year
2010
13 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2018 SSA rank
#18,010
Tracked since 2003
Census
Yailen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 292 people with the first name Yailen, which placed it at #30,039 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#30,039
National first-name rank
People counted
292
292 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
98.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yailen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yailen is Hispanic at 98.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yailen described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yailen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino98.3% · 287
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 2
- Two or more races0.7% · 2
- Black or African American0.3% · 1
Popularity
Yailen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yailen from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 40 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yailen 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 Yailen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yailen
The name Yailen originated from the Taino language spoken by indigenous people of the Caribbean islands. The Taino were an Arawak people who inhabited the Greater Antilles and northern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. The name Yailen is believed to have derived from the Taino word "yaila," which means "beautiful" or "lovely."
The earliest known written record of the name Yailen dates back to the late 15th century, when Spanish explorers and colonists first encountered the Taino people in the Caribbean. The Taino language and culture were heavily suppressed by the Spanish colonization, leading to the near-extinction of the Taino people and their language.
Despite its Taino origins, the name Yailen has gained popularity in various Spanish-speaking countries and communities. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Yailen was a Taino woman who lived in the late 15th century on the island of Hispaniola (modern-day Haiti and Dominican Republic). Her name was recorded by Spanish explorers, but little is known about her life.
In more recent history, there have been several notable individuals named Yailen. Yailen Miney Garcia (born 1988) is a Cuban volleyball player who has represented Cuba in international competitions. Yailen Pimentel (born 1985) is a Dominican model and actress who has appeared in various television shows and films.
Another notable figure is Yailen Leyva (born 1973), a Cuban artist known for her sculptural works and installations. Her artworks have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world, and she has received numerous awards and recognitions for her contributions to contemporary art.
In the field of literature, Yailen Arroyo (born 1982) is a Puerto Rican writer and poet known for her works exploring themes of identity, culture, and social issues. Her poetry collections have garnered critical acclaim and won several literary awards.
Additionally, Yailen Romero (born 1990) is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter who has gained popularity in the Latin music industry. Her music blends various genres, including pop, R&B, and Latin rhythms, and she has released several successful albums and singles.
People
Yailen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yailen 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
Yailen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yailen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 78 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yailen 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 4,394,286 US residents.
Is Yailen a common name?
We classify Yailen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 60.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 79 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yailen most popular?
The single biggest year for Yailen was 2010, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yailen is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yailen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 292 people with the name Yailen, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,039 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yailen in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yailen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yailen leans strongly female. 288 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 8 male bearers (2.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yailen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yailen is Hispanic at 98.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yailen most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yailen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.3% (287 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Yailen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yailen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yailen 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 Yailen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yailen 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 Yailen 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.
How many people have the name Yailen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.