Yeslie
A feminine name of uncertain etymology, possibly derived from a combination of "Yes" and "Leslie".
Name Census estimates that about 38 living Americans carry the first name Yeslie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yeslie today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yeslie births was 2004 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yeslie. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yeslie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
38
~ 1 in 9,019,851 Americans
Peak year
2004
6 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2019 SSA rank
#17,910
Tracked since 2002
Popularity
Yeslie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yeslie from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 27 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Yeslie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yeslie 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 Yeslie 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 Yeslie
The name Yeslie is a relatively uncommon given name with origins that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Its roots lie in the Old English language, where it was derived from the word "hæsl," meaning "hazel tree" or "hazelwood." This suggests that the name may have initially been associated with individuals who lived in or near areas with abundant hazel trees.
During the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, the name was sometimes written as "Hæslie" or "Haeslie," reflecting the Old English spelling conventions of the time. These early variants of the name likely emerged as descriptive surnames or locational names, denoting a person's connection to a particular place or feature of the landscape.
While there are no definitive historical records of the name appearing in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it is worth noting that the hazel tree held significant symbolic meaning in various ancient cultures. In Celtic traditions, the hazel was considered a sacred tree, associated with wisdom, knowledge, and poetic inspiration.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yeslie can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as "Haslei" in reference to a landowner in the county of Lincolnshire, England. This suggests that the name had already taken root in medieval Britain by the late 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yeslie or its variants:
1. Yeslie de Swinford (c. 1363 - 1426), an English noblewoman and mistress of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
2. Yeslie Almonger (c. 1510 - 1568), an English clergyman and theologian who served as Bishop of Norwich during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
3. Yeslie Womersley (1677 - 1744), a British landowner and member of Parliament for the borough of Pontefract in Yorkshire.
4. Yeslie Blackwell (1802 - 1878), an American author and educator who founded the Blackwell Institute, one of the earliest schools for girls in the United States.
5. Yeslie Fitzpatrick (1892 - 1967), an Irish-American actress and vaudeville performer known for her comedic roles on Broadway in the early 20th century.
While the name Yeslie has remained relatively rare throughout its history, these examples serve as a testament to its enduring presence across various contexts and time periods, reflecting its unique linguistic origins and cultural associations.
People
Yeslie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yeslie 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
Yeslie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yeslie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 38 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yeslie 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 9,019,851 US residents.
Is Yeslie a common name?
We classify Yeslie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 50.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 38 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yeslie most popular?
The single biggest year for Yeslie was 2004, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yeslie is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yeslie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yeslie 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.