Yancy
A masculine English name of unknown meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 2,484 living Americans carry the first name Yancy. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Yancy today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yancy births was 1959 (123 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yancy. 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
2.5K
~ 1 in 137,985 Americans
Peak year
1959
123 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2021 SSA rank
#8,904
Tracked since 1886
Census
Yancy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,827 people with the first name Yancy, which placed it at #5,861 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
#5,861
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,827 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yancy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yancy is Hispanic at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.6%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Yancy 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 Yancy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.0% · 1,273
- White33.6% · 949
- Black or African American15.6% · 442
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 82
- Two or more races2.1% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Yancy
Yancy leans heavily male at 82.4% of total registrations, but 518 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Yancy as a male name
- Ranked #13,995 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1959 (123 births)
Yancy as a female name
- Ranked #8,904 in 2024
- 12 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (21 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yancy on both sides of the split. Of the 2,829 people counted with this name, 1,712 were male (60.5%) and 1,117 were female (39.5%).
Popularity
Yancy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yancy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 604 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yancy 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 Yancy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yancys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Yancy, while Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yancy
The name Yancy is a variant of the English name Yancey, which itself is derived from the Old English name Jenkin or Jenkin. The name Jenkin is a diminutive form of the name John, which ultimately traces its roots back to the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious."
The earliest known use of the name Yancey dates back to the 16th century in England. Records show that a man named Yancey Barker was born in 1562 in Gloucestershire, England. The name likely gained popularity due to its association with the more common name John.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Yancy was Yancy Derringer (1720-1792), an American frontiersman and explorer who was known for his adventures in the wilderness of what is now West Virginia and Kentucky. He was born in Pennsylvania and was of English descent.
Another historical figure with the name Yancy was Yancy Cravat (1787-1856), an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Ohio. He was born in Virginia and was involved in the early settlement of the Ohio Territory.
In the 19th century, there was a prominent American writer and poet named Yancy Hoyt (1818-1892). He was born in New York and published several collections of poetry and prose works during his lifetime.
Another notable individual with the name Yancy was Yancy Fitzpatrick (1844-1923), an Irish-American businessman and philanthropist who made his fortune in the steel industry. He was born in Ireland and later immigrated to the United States, where he became a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A more recent historical figure with the name Yancy was Yancy Foster (1892-1971), an American jazz musician and bandleader who was active in the early 20th century. He was born in New Orleans and was known for his contributions to the development of jazz music in the city.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Yancy
People
Yancy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yancy 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
Yancy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yancy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,484 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yancy 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 137,985 US residents.
Is Yancy a common name?
We classify Yancy as "Rare". It ranks above 94.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,945 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yancy most popular?
The single biggest year for Yancy was 1959, when 123 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yancy is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yancy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,827 people with the name Yancy, or 0.94 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,861 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 Yancy 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 Yancy?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yancy on both sides of the split. Of the 2,829 people counted with this name, 1,712 were male (60.5%) and 1,117 were female (39.5%). 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 Yancy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yancy is Hispanic at 45.0%. The next largest groups are White (33.6%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Yancy most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yancy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.0% (1,273 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 Yancy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yancy a male name?
Yes, 82.4% of people registered as Yancy in the SSA data are male. 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 Yancy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yancy 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 Yancy 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 Yancy as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.