Ymir
A masculine Norse name deriving from the primordial giant of Norse mythology.
Name Census estimates that about 58 living Americans carry the first name Ymir. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.3% of registrations being male. The average person named Ymir today is around 3 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ymir births was 2024 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ymir. 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 Ymir. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
58
~ 1 in 5,909,558 Americans
Peak year
2024
23 babies that year
Average age
3
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,867
Tracked since 2021
Gender
Gender distribution for Ymir
Ymir is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 58 total registrations, 46 (79.3%) were male and 12 (20.7%) were female.
Ymir as a male name
- Ranked #5,867 in 2024
- 16 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (16 births)
Ymir as a female name
- Ranked #13,383 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (7 births)
Popularity
Ymir: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Ymir 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 Ymir during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 46 | 12 | 58 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Ymir
Ymir is a given name originating from Old Norse mythology, dating back to the Viking age in Scandinavia around the 8th to 11th centuries. The name is derived from the Old Norse word "Ymir," which refers to the primordial giant or frost giant who was the progenitor of all beings in Norse cosmology.
According to the Poetic Edda, one of the oldest sources of Norse mythology, Ymir was formed from the frozen venom that dripped from the icy rivers called the Élivágar. From Ymir's flesh, the earth was created, while his blood formed the oceans and his bones became the mountains. Ymir's skull was fashioned into the heavenly dome, and his brain became the clouds.
The name Ymir appears prominently in the Prose Edda, a collection of Old Norse tales written by the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. In this work, Ymir is described as the first being to emerge from the primordial void known as Ginnungagap.
One of the earliest recorded individuals named Ymir was Ymir Ragnarsson, a 10th-century Norwegian Viking who is mentioned in the Saga of Thorstein, the Son of Viking. Another notable person with this name was Ymir Jóhannesson (1926-1998), an Icelandic painter and sculptor renowned for his abstract expressionist works.
In literature, Ymir is referenced in the Völuspá, one of the oldest and most celebrated poems of the Poetic Edda. The name also appears in the Gylfaginning, a section of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, which provides a detailed account of Ymir's creation and the formation of the world from his body.
Other historical figures bearing the name Ymir include Ymir Sveinsson (1856-1934), an Icelandic politician and journalist who served as the Speaker of the Althing (Icelandic parliament), and Ymir Enok Falkenberg (1902-1991), a Norwegian philologist and linguist known for his work on the Scandinavian languages.
While relatively uncommon, the name Ymir has endured throughout Scandinavian history, carrying the legacy of one of the most significant figures in Norse mythology and serving as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage of the Viking age.
People
Ymir + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ymir 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
Ymir: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ymir?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 58 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ymir 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 5,909,558 US residents.
Is Ymir a common name?
We classify Ymir as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 58 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ymir most popular?
The single biggest year for Ymir was 2024, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ymir is about 3 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 Ymir in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ymir a male name?
Yes, 79.3% of people registered as Ymir 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 Ymir still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ymir 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 Ymir 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 named Ymir?
Find out how many people share the name Ymir on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.