Yissell
A feminine name of obscure origin, possibly from French or English.
Name Census estimates that about 15 living Americans carry the first name Yissell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yissell today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yissell births was 2001 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yissell. 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 Yissell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
15
~ 1 in 22,850,289 Americans
Peak year
2001
5 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2007 SSA rank
#20,493
Tracked since 2001
Census
Yissell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 127 people with the first name Yissell, which placed it at #49,170 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
#49,170
National first-name rank
People counted
127
127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
100.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yissell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yissell is Hispanic at 100.0%. 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 Yissell 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 Yissell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino100.0% · 127
Popularity
Yissell: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Yissell 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 Yissell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 0 | 15 | 15 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Yissell
The given name Yissell is believed to have its origins in the Yiddish language, which is a dialect of German that was spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Eastern and Central Europe. The name Yissell is thought to be a variant or diminutive form of the Hebrew name Yisrael, meaning "God contends" or "struggles with God."
While the exact origins of the name Yissell are somewhat obscure, it is likely that it emerged as a result of the adaptation and transformation of the name Yisrael within Yiddish-speaking communities. The name may have undergone phonetic changes and spelling variations as it was passed down through generations of Yiddish speakers.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yissell can be found in the writings of the 16th-century scholar and rabbi, Moses Isserles, also known as the Rema. Isserles was a prominent figure in the Jewish community of Kraków, Poland, and his works played a significant role in shaping Jewish legal and religious practices.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who bore the name Yissell. One such individual was Yissell Bershad, a prominent Hasidic rabbi who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was known for his teachings and his leadership within the Hasidic community in Ukraine.
Another notable figure was Yissell Deitsch, a Yiddish writer and journalist who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He contributed significantly to the development of Yiddish literature and was a vocal advocate for the preservation of Yiddish language and culture.
In the realm of music, Yissell Rosenbaum was a renowned Hasidic singer and composer who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was celebrated for his soulful renditions of traditional Jewish melodies and his contributions to the Hasidic musical tradition.
Yissell Faibush, a prominent figure in the Hasidic community of Belz, Poland, was a respected rabbi and scholar who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known for his teachings and his role in preserving and transmitting Jewish religious and cultural traditions.
It is important to note that while the name Yissell has deep roots in Jewish history and culture, it has also been adopted and used by various communities around the world, each with their own unique interpretations and adaptations of the name.
People
Yissell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yissell 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
Yissell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yissell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yissell 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 22,850,289 US residents.
Is Yissell a common name?
We classify Yissell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 35.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 15 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yissell most popular?
The single biggest year for Yissell was 2001, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yissell is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yissell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 127 people with the name Yissell, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,170 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 Yissell 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 Yissell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yissell appears almost entirely female. Of the 135 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Yissell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yissell is Hispanic at 100.0%. 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 Yissell most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yissell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 100.0% (127 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 Yissell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yissell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yissell 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.
Is Yissell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yissell 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 Yissell 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 share the name Yissell?
You can see how many people have the name Yissell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.