Yanessa
A modern feminine name of unknown origin, possibly blending Yana or Jana with -essa.
Name Census estimates that about 397 living Americans carry the first name Yanessa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yanessa today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yanessa births was 2007 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yanessa. 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
397
~ 1 in 863,361 Americans
Peak year
2007
20 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2021 SSA rank
#17,548
Tracked since 1981
Census
Yanessa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 316 people with the first name Yanessa, which placed it at #28,429 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
#28,429
National first-name rank
People counted
316
316 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
79.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yanessa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanessa is Hispanic at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and White (7.6%). 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 Yanessa 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 Yanessa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino79.4% · 251
- Black or African American9.8% · 31
- White7.6% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 1
- Two or more races0.3% · 1
Popularity
Yanessa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yanessa 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 133 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
Yanessa 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 Yanessa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yanessas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yanessa
The name Yanessa is a modern invented name with no known definitive etymology or origin. It appears to be a variant or combination of the more common names Yana and Vanessa.
Yana is a Slavic name derived from the Greek name Ioanna, which itself stems from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious." The name Yana gained popularity in Eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Ukraine, during the Middle Ages.
Vanessa, on the other hand, is a name of uncertain origin, but it is believed to be a combination of the names Venetia and Ness. Venetia was a region in northeastern Italy, while Ness is a Scottish surname derived from the word "ness," meaning a promontory or headland.
While the name Yanessa itself does not have a clear historical reference or appearance in ancient texts, it is possible that it was formed by combining elements of the names Yana and Vanessa in modern times.
Unfortunately, there are no widely known historical figures or prominent individuals named Yanessa. However, here are five people who share this first name:
1. Yanessa Josselyn, an American actress and model born in 1990.
2. Yanessa Quintero, a Venezuelan model and beauty pageant titleholder, born in 1993.
3. Yanessa Calderon, a Peruvian volleyball player who competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
4. Yanessa Bocanegra, a Colombian football (soccer) player who plays as a defender.
5. Yanessa Díaz Martínez, a Spanish rhythmic gymnast who competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Since Yanessa is a relatively modern and uncommon name, it is challenging to find extensive historical records or references beyond the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
People
Yanessa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yanessa 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
Yanessa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yanessa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yanessa 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 863,361 US residents.
Is Yanessa a common name?
We classify Yanessa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 405 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yanessa most popular?
The single biggest year for Yanessa was 2007, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yanessa is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yanessa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 316 people with the name Yanessa, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,429 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 Yanessa 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 Yanessa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yanessa leans strongly female. 310 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Yanessa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanessa is Hispanic at 79.4%. The next largest groups are Black (9.8%) and White (7.6%). 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 Yanessa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yanessa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.4% (251 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 Yanessa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yanessa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yanessa 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 Yanessa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yanessa 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 Yanessa 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 Yanessa?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.