Yeriel
A Hebrew masculine name derived from "Ari El" meaning "lion of God".
Name Census estimates that about 380 living Americans carry the first name Yeriel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yeriel today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yeriel births was 2010 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yeriel. 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
380
~ 1 in 901,985 Americans
Peak year
2010
27 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,211
Tracked since 1989
Popularity
Yeriel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yeriel 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 185 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yeriel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yeriel 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 Yeriel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yeriels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yeriel
The name Yeriel is of Hebrew origin and is believed to date back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew words "yor" meaning "light" and "el" meaning "God". The name can be translated to mean "light of God" or "God's light".
Yeriel is not a common name found in the Bible or other ancient religious texts. However, some scholars suggest that it may have been used as a variation or derivative of other Hebrew names such as Uriel or Yiriel.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Yeriel are from the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, a Jewish scholar and philosopher named Yeriel ben Shlomo lived in Spain. He is known for his work on Jewish philosophy and his commentaries on the Bible.
Another notable figure named Yeriel was a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalist from Safed, Palestine. His full name was Yeriel ben Avraham, and he was a student of the famous Kabbalist Isaac Luria.
In the 18th century, there was a Yeriel ben Moshe, a Jewish scholar and author from Poland. He wrote several books on Jewish law and customs.
In more recent times, Yeriel Armando Rendón was a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as a member of the Colombian Senate from 1998 to 2006.
Another notable figure named Yeriel was Yeriel Zamir, an Israeli writer and journalist born in 1958. He is known for his books on Israeli culture and society.
While not a common name, Yeriel has been used throughout history in various Jewish communities, particularly among Sephardic Jews. Its meaning and connection to the concepts of light and God have made it a name with spiritual and religious significance.
People
Yeriel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yeriel 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
Yeriel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yeriel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 380 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yeriel 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 901,985 US residents.
Is Yeriel a common name?
We classify Yeriel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 384 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yeriel most popular?
The single biggest year for Yeriel was 2010, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yeriel is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yeriel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yeriel 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.