Yemariam
A masculine name of Amharic origin meaning "Mary's one".
Name Census estimates that about 218 living Americans carry the first name Yemariam. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yemariam today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yemariam births was 2022 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yemariam. 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
218
~ 1 in 1,572,268 Americans
Peak year
2022
33 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,367
Tracked since 2015
Popularity
Yemariam: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yemariam from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 143 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yemariam 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 Yemariam during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yemariams live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Virginia, Maryland, Washington recorded the most babies named Yemariam, while Minnesota, Texas, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yemariam
Yemariam is a given name with origins tracing back to the Amharic language spoken in Ethiopia. The name is derived from the combination of the Amharic words "ye" meaning "of" and "mariam" which is the Amharic form of the name Mary. As such, Yemariam can be translated to mean "of Mary" or "belonging to Mary."
The name has been in use among the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian community for centuries, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to the 14th century. It gained particular prominence during the Solomonic dynasty that ruled Ethiopia from the 13th to the 20th century, as many members of the royal family bore names honoring religious figures or with biblical origins.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Yemariam was Yemariam Barachisio, a renowned Ethiopian scholar and philosopher who lived during the late 16th century. He is celebrated for his contributions to the development of the Ge'ez language and its literature.
Another notable figure with this name was Yemariam Yehuala, a 17th-century Ethiopian noblewoman and military leader. She played a significant role in the struggles against the Ottoman Empire's attempts to invade and conquer parts of Ethiopia during the Habesh-Ottoman War.
In the 18th century, Yemariam Ande was a prominent Ethiopian monk and religious scholar who authored several works on theology and philosophy. His writings were influential in shaping the intellectual discourse of the time.
Moving into the 19th century, Yemariam Cassa was an Ethiopian prince and military commander who fought against the expansionist ambitions of the Egyptian Empire during the Ethiopian-Egyptian War of 1875-1876.
In more recent history, Yemariam Tsige was an Ethiopian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the early 20th century, playing a crucial role in maintaining Ethiopia's independence and sovereignty during a period of intense colonial competition in Africa.
While the name Yemariam has its roots in the Amharic language and Ethiopian Orthodox Christian tradition, it has also been adopted by communities in neighboring countries such as Eritrea and parts of Somalia, where Amharic and related Semitic languages are spoken.
People
Yemariam + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yemariam 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
Yemariam: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yemariam?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 218 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yemariam 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 1,572,268 US residents.
Is Yemariam a common name?
We classify Yemariam as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yemariam most popular?
The single biggest year for Yemariam was 2022, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yemariam is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yemariam a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yemariam 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.
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.