Yaniel
A Hebrew masculine name variant of Yannai meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 605 living Americans carry the first name Yaniel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yaniel today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yaniel births was 2012 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yaniel. 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
605
~ 1 in 566,536 Americans
Peak year
2012
52 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,634
Tracked since 1998
Popularity
Yaniel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yaniel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 321 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yaniel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yaniel 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 Yaniel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yaniels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Florida, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Yaniel, while Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 54 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yaniel
The given name Yaniel has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a variation of the name Yoniel, which is derived from the Hebrew words "Yah" and "Ni'el." "Yah" is a shortened form of the Hebrew name for God, while "Ni'el" means "God is my strength" or "God is my victory."
The name Yaniel first appeared in ancient Hebrew texts and religious scriptures, primarily in the Old Testament of the Bible. It was a name given to boys in the ancient Israelite culture, which dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yaniel can be found in the Book of Numbers, where it is mentioned as the name of a Levite. However, the exact timeframe or historical context of this reference is unclear.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Yaniel. One of the most prominent was Yaniel ben Shurik (c. 1100-1180 CE), a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher from Andalusia, Spain, who wrote extensively on the subjects of mathematics and astronomy.
Another notable figure was Yaniel ibn Ezra (c. 1090-1167 CE), a Hebrew poet and philosopher from Granada, Spain, who was renowned for his religious and secular poetry.
In the 16th century, Yaniel da Viterbo (c. 1510-1570) was an Italian painter and architect who worked during the Renaissance period. He is best known for his frescoes in the Vatican and his architectural designs for churches and palaces.
During the 17th century, Yaniel Delmedigo (1591-1655) was a Jewish mathematician and astronomer from Candia (modern-day Heraklion, Greece). He made significant contributions to the fields of algebra and trigonometry and was also a philosopher.
In more recent times, Yaniel Espinoza (1905-1976) was a prominent Venezuelan painter and sculptor known for his abstract and modernist works.
While the name Yaniel has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has been used across various regions and time periods, often with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation. However, its core meaning and connection to the concept of divine strength and victory have remained consistent throughout its historical usage.
People
Yaniel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yaniel 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
Yaniel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yaniel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 605 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yaniel 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 566,536 US residents.
Is Yaniel a common name?
We classify Yaniel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 610 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yaniel most popular?
The single biggest year for Yaniel was 2012, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yaniel is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yaniel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yaniel 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.
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.