Yannick
A French diminutive form of the name Jean, derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 1,036 living Americans carry the first name Yannick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yannick today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yannick births was 2016 (54 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yannick. 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 Yannick with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 330,844 Americans
Peak year
2016
54 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,419
Tracked since 1981
Census
Yannick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,626 people with the first name Yannick, which placed it at #8,799 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
#8,799
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,626 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yannick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yannick is Black at 48.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Yannick 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 Yannick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.6% · 790
- White29.3% · 477
- Hispanic or Latino15.3% · 248
- Two or more races4.7% · 77
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Yannick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yannick from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 340 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yannick remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yannick 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 Yannick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yannicks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Yannick, while Illinois, Maryland, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 30 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yannick
The given name Yannick has its origins in the ancient Greek language, derived from the name Ioannis, which is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "God is gracious". The name was widespread in the Byzantine Empire and later spread to Western Europe through the influence of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The earliest recorded use of the name Yannick can be traced back to the 12th century in France, where it was a diminutive form of the French name Jean, which was derived from the Latin name Iohannes. During this period, the name was particularly popular among the nobility and aristocracy in France.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Yannick was Yannick de Basseville, a French diplomat who lived in the 18th century. He served as the Secretary of the French Legation in Naples and was tragically killed during a riot in Rome in 1793.
Another prominent figure with the name Yannick was Yannick Agnel, a French professional swimmer born in 1992. He won two gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, becoming a national hero in France.
In the realm of classical music, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, a Canadian conductor born in 1975, has gained international acclaim. He currently holds the position of Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Yannick Noah, a former professional tennis player from France, was born in 1960. He won the French Open in 1983 and became a prominent figure in the world of sports, particularly in his home country.
Yannick Bellon, a French-born film director and screenwriter, has made significant contributions to the world of cinema. Born in 1924, he is best known for his collaborations with renowned directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut.
While the name Yannick has its roots in ancient Greek and has been present in various cultures throughout history, it remains a beloved name in modern times, particularly in French-speaking regions and among those with Greek or Eastern Orthodox heritage.
People
Yannick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yannick 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
Yannick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yannick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,036 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yannick 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 330,844 US residents.
Is Yannick a common name?
We classify Yannick 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, 1,054 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yannick most popular?
The single biggest year for Yannick was 2016, when 54 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yannick is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yannick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,626 people with the name Yannick, or 0.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,799 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 Yannick 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 Yannick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yannick leans strongly male. 1,526 people counted with this name were male (94.0%), compared with 98 female bearers (6.0%). 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 Yannick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yannick is Black at 48.6%. The next largest groups are White (29.3%) and Hispanic (15.3%). 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 Yannick most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Yannick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.6% (790 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 Yannick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yannick a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yannick 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 Yannick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yannick 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 Yannick 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 Yannick?
See how many Americans are named Yannick on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.