Yakira
Feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "anticipated" or "longed for".
Name Census estimates that about 946 living Americans carry the first name Yakira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yakira today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yakira births was 1997 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yakira. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yakira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
946
~ 1 in 362,320 Americans
Peak year
1997
51 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,450
Tracked since 1981
Census
Yakira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 819 people with the first name Yakira, which placed it at #14,409 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
#14,409
National first-name rank
People counted
819
819 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
44.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yakira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yakira is Black at 44.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.5%) and Hispanic (25.0%). 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 Yakira 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 Yakira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American44.1% · 361
- White25.5% · 209
- Hispanic or Latino25.0% · 205
- Two or more races3.7% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Yakira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yakira from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 319 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Yakira remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yakira 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 Yakira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yakiras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Florida, Georgia recorded the most babies named Yakira, while North Carolina, California, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yakira
The name Yakira has its origins in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "ya'kir," which means "precious" or "valuable." The name is believed to have first appeared in ancient Israelite communities during the biblical era, around the 1st millennium BCE.
In the Hebrew Bible, the name is not specifically mentioned, but the root word "ya'kir" is used several times to describe valuable or precious objects or people. For instance, in the Book of Jeremiah, the prophet laments the loss of "precious children" using the word "ya'kirim."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yakira can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism, compiled around the 3rd to 5th centuries CE. The Talmud mentions a woman named Yakira, who was known for her wisdom and piety.
Throughout Jewish history, several notable figures have borne the name Yakira. One of the most famous was Yakira Basheva'ot (c. 1550-1625), a renowned Kabbalist and scholar from Safed, in present-day Israel. She was highly respected for her knowledge of Jewish mysticism and was considered a spiritual leader in her community.
Another notable Yakira was Yakira Aron (1904-1998), a German-born Israeli dancer and choreographer. She was a pioneer of modern dance in Israel and played a significant role in shaping the country's dance scene in the early 20th century.
In more recent times, Yakira Aruga (1898-1987) was a Japanese-born Israeli artist and painter known for her vibrant depictions of landscapes and still-life scenes. Her works are celebrated for their unique blend of Japanese and Israeli artistic influences.
Yakira Vizel (1972-present) is a contemporary Israeli author and screenwriter, best known for her novels and TV series that explore themes of identity, family, and relationships in modern Israeli society.
Yakira Halili (1985-present) is an Israeli singer and songwriter who has gained popularity for her fusion of Middle Eastern and Western musical styles. Her music often draws inspiration from her Yemeni-Jewish heritage and has garnered critical acclaim for its unique sound.
People
Yakira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yakira 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
Yakira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yakira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 946 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yakira 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 362,320 US residents.
Is Yakira a common name?
We classify Yakira as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 964 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yakira most popular?
The single biggest year for Yakira was 1997, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yakira is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yakira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 819 people with the name Yakira, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,409 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 Yakira 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 Yakira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yakira appears almost entirely female. Of the 813 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Yakira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yakira is Black at 44.1%. The next largest groups are White (25.5%) and Hispanic (25.0%). 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 Yakira most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Yakira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.1% (361 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 Yakira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yakira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yakira 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 Yakira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yakira 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 Yakira 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 common is the name Yakira?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Yakira at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.