Yannik
Derived from the German form of John, meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 21 living Americans carry the first name Yannik. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yannik today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yannik births was 2009 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yannik. 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 Yannik with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yannik. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
21
~ 1 in 16,321,635 Americans
Peak year
2009
8 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2020 SSA rank
#9,522
Tracked since 2006
Popularity
Yannik: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yannik from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 13 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Yannik remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yannik 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 Yannik during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yannik
The name Yannik is a masculine given name of German origin, derived from the biblical name Yohanan, which means "God is gracious" in Hebrew. It is a variant of the name Johannes or John, and was popularized in Germany during the Middle Ages.
The earliest known record of the name Yannik dates back to the 12th century in German-speaking regions of Europe. It was commonly used among the nobility and upper classes, likely due to its association with the biblical name and its religious connotations.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Yannik was Yannik von Köln, a German knight who lived in the late 12th century and participated in the Third Crusade. Another notable figure was Yannik von Sachsen, a 13th-century German nobleman and landowner.
In the 15th century, Yannik Krause, a German monk and scholar, gained fame for his contributions to the study of theology and philosophy. He was born in 1421 and died in 1499.
During the Renaissance period, Yannik Holbein, a German painter and printmaker, was known for his portraits and religious works. He was born in 1497 and died in 1543.
In more recent history, Yannik Nézet-Séguin, a Canadian conductor and music director, has achieved international recognition. He was born in 1975 and currently serves as the music director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
While the name Yannik has its roots in Germany, it has also been adopted in other cultures and languages. In French, for example, it is sometimes spelled as Yannick or Yanic, while in Scandinavian countries, it may be written as Jannik or Jannick.
People
Yannik + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yannik 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
Yannik: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yannik?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yannik 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 16,321,635 US residents.
Is Yannik a common name?
We classify Yannik as "Very Rare". It ranks above 40.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yannik most popular?
The single biggest year for Yannik was 2009, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yannik is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Yannik in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yannik a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yannik 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 Yannik still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yannik 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 Yannik 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are called Yannik?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.