Yamilee
Feminine name possibly derived from a French dialect meaning "little hazelnut".
Name Census estimates that about 60 living Americans carry the first name Yamilee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yamilee today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yamilee births was 2001 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yamilee. 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 Yamilee. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
60
~ 1 in 5,712,572 Americans
Peak year
2001
8 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2007 SSA rank
#20,454
Tracked since 1972
Census
Yamilee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 162 people with the first name Yamilee, which placed it at #43,512 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
#43,512
National first-name rank
People counted
162
162 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
66.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yamilee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yamilee is Hispanic at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (3.1%). 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 Yamilee 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 Yamilee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino66.0% · 107
- Black or African American29.0% · 47
- White3.1% · 5
- Two or more races1.9% · 3
Popularity
Yamilee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yamilee from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 38 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
Yamilee 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 Yamilee 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 Yamilee
Yamilee is a unique and intriguing name with roots that can be traced back to various cultures and languages. Its origins are not entirely clear, but it is believed to be a combination of two separate words from different linguistic backgrounds.
One possible origin of the name Yamilee is from the Arabic language, where "Yam" means "sea" or "ocean," and "lee" could be derived from the Arabic word "laith," meaning "lion." This would suggest that the name Yamilee could be interpreted as "lion of the sea" or "sea lion." However, it is essential to note that this interpretation is speculative and not definitively confirmed.
Another theory suggests that the name Yamilee might have its roots in the Hawaiian language, where "ya" means "to be" or "to exist," and "milee" could be a variation of the word "milele," meaning "forever" or "eternal." In this context, the name Yamilee could be understood as "forever existing" or "eternal being."
Historically, the name Yamilee does not appear to have any significant references in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, there are a few notable individuals who have borne this name throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yamilee can be found in the 18th century, with Yamilee Farr, a British poet and writer born in 1742. Her collection of poems, titled "Reflections on Nature," was published in 1780 and received critical acclaim during her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Yamilee Delacroix (1821-1892) was a French artist known for her intricate landscape paintings and portraits. Her works were exhibited in prestigious galleries across Europe, and she is considered a pioneer in the Impressionist movement.
More recently, Yamilee Sánchez (1935-2018) was a renowned Venezuelan actress and dancer. She gained international recognition for her performances in various theater productions and films, and was awarded the National Prize for Theater in 1985.
Yamilee Mukhtar (born 1972) is a contemporary Pakistani-American author and journalist. Her debut novel, "The Fragrance of Tears," published in 2008, explores the complexities of cultural identity and received critical acclaim.
Yamilee Hershkovitz (born 1983) is an Israeli mathematician and professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has made significant contributions to the field of algebraic geometry and has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for her research.
While the name Yamilee is not as common as some other names, it has been carried by remarkable individuals throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and cultures.
People
Yamilee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yamilee 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
Yamilee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yamilee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 60 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yamilee 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 5,712,572 US residents.
Is Yamilee a common name?
We classify Yamilee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 57.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 62 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yamilee most popular?
The single biggest year for Yamilee was 2001, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yamilee is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yamilee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 162 people with the name Yamilee, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,512 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 Yamilee 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 Yamilee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yamilee appears almost entirely female. Of the 160 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Yamilee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yamilee is Hispanic at 66.0%. The next largest groups are Black (29.0%) and White (3.1%). 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 Yamilee most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yamilee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.0% (107 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 Yamilee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yamilee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yamilee 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 Yamilee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yamilee 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 Yamilee 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 Americans are named Yamilee?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.