Yanel
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God bestows peace".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Yanel. It is a predominantly female name (97.1% of registrations). The average person named Yanel today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yanel births was 1994 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yanel. 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
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
1994
17 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2020 SSA rank
#11,956
Tracked since 1978
Census
Yanel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 423 people with the first name Yanel, which placed it at #23,223 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
#23,223
National first-name rank
People counted
423
423 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yanel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanel is Hispanic at 90.3%. The next largest groups are White (5.0%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Yanel 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 Yanel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.3% · 382
- White5.0% · 21
- Black or African American4.0% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
- Two or more races0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Yanel
Yanel leans heavily female at 97.1% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Yanel as a male name
- Ranked #11,956 in 2020
- 6 male births in 2020
- Peak: 2020 (6 births)
Yanel as a female name
- Ranked #17,648 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1994 (17 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yanel leans strongly female. 345 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 78 male bearers (18.4%).
Popularity
Yanel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yanel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 70 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yanel 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 Yanel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yanels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yanel
The name Yanel is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is a variation of the name Yael, which means "ibex" or "mountain goat" in Hebrew. The name Yael is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it refers to a woman who drove a tent peg through the head of Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Yanel can be traced back to the Middle Ages, where it was used as a Hebrew name in various Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. One of the earliest known individuals with the name Yanel was Yanel ben Shlomo, a 13th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher from Spain.
Throughout history, the name Yanel has been borne by a number of notable figures. In the 16th century, Yanel Abravanel was a prominent Jewish scholar and physician who lived in Italy. In the 17th century, Yanel Touro was a Jewish businessman and philanthropist who was involved in the settlement of Rhode Island.
Moving forward to the 19th century, Yanel Aguado was a Spanish painter and engraver who was known for his works depicting historical scenes and portraits. Around the same time, Yanel Lemkin was a Polish-Jewish linguist and writer who is credited with coining the term "genocide."
In more recent times, Yanel Naim was an Israeli singer and songwriter who gained popularity in the 2000s with his unique blend of traditional Middle Eastern music and contemporary electronic sounds.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Yanel throughout history, highlighting its rich cultural and linguistic heritage. While the name may have evolved over time and across different regions, its roots can be traced back to the ancient Hebrew language and its association with strength and resilience.
People
Yanel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yanel 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
Yanel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yanel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yanel 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Yanel a common name?
We classify Yanel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 205 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yanel most popular?
The single biggest year for Yanel was 1994, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yanel is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yanel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 423 people with the name Yanel, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,223 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 Yanel 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 Yanel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yanel leans strongly female. 345 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 78 male bearers (18.4%). 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 Yanel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanel is Hispanic at 90.3%. The next largest groups are White (5.0%) and Black (4.0%). 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 Yanel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yanel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (382 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 Yanel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yanel a female name?
Yes, 97.1% of people registered as Yanel 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 Yanel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yanel 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 Yanel 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 Yanel?
See how many people have the name Yanel on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.