Yanni
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,022 living Americans carry the first name Yanni. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.8% of registrations being male. The average person named Yanni today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yanni births was 1998 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yanni. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yanni with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 335,376 Americans
Peak year
1998
52 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,635
Tracked since 1992
Census
Yanni in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,398 people with the first name Yanni, which placed it at #9,796 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
#9,796
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,398 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
34.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yanni
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanni is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (23.9%) and Hispanic (21.1%). 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 Yanni 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 Yanni at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White34.6% · 484
- Asian and Pacific Islander23.9% · 334
- Hispanic or Latino21.1% · 295
- Black or African American17.5% · 245
- Two or more races2.9% · 40
Gender
Gender distribution for Yanni
Yanni is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,035 total registrations, 764 (73.8%) were male and 271 (26.2%) were female.
Yanni as a male name
- Ranked #5,635 in 2024
- 17 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1998 (44 births)
Yanni as a female name
- Ranked #13,374 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yanni on both sides of the split. Of the 1,398 people counted with this name, 825 were male (59.0%) and 573 were female (41.0%).
Popularity
Yanni: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yanni from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 375 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Yanni remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yanni 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 Yanni during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yannis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Yanni, while New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yanni
The given name Yanni has its origins in the Greek language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek name Ioannis, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name Yanni is a diminutive or nickname version of Ioannis.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yanni can be found in ancient Greek texts and manuscripts from the Byzantine era. It was a common name among Greeks during this period, which lasted from the 4th to the 15th century AD.
In the realm of religious scriptures, the name Yanni is closely associated with John the Baptist, one of the most revered figures in Christianity. In the New Testament, John the Baptist is referred to as Ioannis, the Greek form of the name.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yanni. One of the earliest was Yanni Akridas, a Byzantine scholar and writer who lived in the 13th century AD. He was known for his work in the field of rhetoric and his commentaries on ancient Greek texts.
Another famous Yanni was Yanni Tsaroukis, a renowned Greek painter and sculptor who lived from 1910 to 1989. He was celebrated for his depictions of Greek life and his unique style that blended traditional and modern elements.
In the world of music, Yanni is perhaps best associated with Yanni Chrysomallis, a Greek-American composer and musician born in 1954. He is known for his instrumental music that blends elements of new age, world music, and classical genres.
Another notable figure with the name Yanni was Yanni Petsalakis, a Greek resistance fighter during World War II who played a crucial role in the Greek Resistance against the Axis occupation. He was born in 1915 and died in 1995.
Yanni Alexis Mardas, also known as Magic Alex, was a Greek musician and entrepreneur born in 1942. He was closely associated with the Beatles and was instrumental in introducing them to various Eastern spiritual and philosophical concepts during the 1960s.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Yanni, showcasing its rich cultural heritage and historical significance within the Greek tradition.
People
Yanni + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yanni 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
Yanni: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yanni?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,022 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yanni 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 335,376 US residents.
Is Yanni a common name?
We classify Yanni as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,035 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yanni most popular?
The single biggest year for Yanni was 1998, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yanni is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yanni in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,398 people with the name Yanni, or 0.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,796 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 Yanni 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 Yanni?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yanni on both sides of the split. Of the 1,398 people counted with this name, 825 were male (59.0%) and 573 were female (41.0%). 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 Yanni?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yanni is White at 34.6%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (23.9%) and Hispanic (21.1%). 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 Yanni most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yanni in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.6% (484 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 Yanni in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yanni a male name?
Yes, 73.8% of people registered as Yanni 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 Yanni still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yanni 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 Yanni 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 Yanni?
See how many people have the name Yanni on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.