Yogi
An Indian masculine name derived from the Sanskrit word "yoga", meaning "one who practices yoga".
Name Census estimates that about 211 living Americans carry the first name Yogi. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yogi today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yogi births was 2019 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yogi. 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
211
~ 1 in 1,624,428 Americans
Peak year
2019
18 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,926
Tracked since 1953
Popularity
Yogi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yogi from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 81 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yogi remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yogi 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 Yogi 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 Yogi
The name Yogi has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is derived from the word "yoga," which means "to unite" or "to join." The earliest known references to the word "yoga" can be found in the Upanishads, a collection of ancient Hindu philosophical texts that date back to around the 8th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Yogi can be found in the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture that is believed to have been composed between the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE. In this text, the term "yogi" is used to refer to a practitioner of yoga, or someone who is on the path of spiritual enlightenment.
Throughout history, there have been several notable figures who have borne the name Yogi. One of the most famous is Yogi Adityanath, an Indian Hindu monk and the current Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, India. He was born in 1972 and has been a prominent figure in the Hindu nationalist movement.
Another notable Yogi is Yogi Berra, an American baseball player and manager who played for the New York Yankees from 1946 to 1963. He was born in 1925 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history. Berra is also known for his humorous malapropisms, which are often referred to as "Yogi-isms."
Yogi Bhajan, born Harbhajan Singh Khalsa in 1929, was an Indian-American spiritual teacher who introduced Kundalini Yoga to the Western world in the late 1960s. He played a significant role in the spread of yoga and meditation practices in the United States.
Yogi Ferrell is an American professional basketball player who was born in 1993. He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers and has since played in the NBA for several teams, including the Dallas Mavericks and the Sacramento Kings.
Yogi Roth, born in 1942, is an American filmmaker and multimedia artist known for his experimental and avant-garde works. He has been a prominent figure in the underground film scene since the 1960s and has influenced countless artists and filmmakers.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Yogi, a name deeply rooted in the ancient spiritual traditions of India and the practice of yoga.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Yogi
People
Yogi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yogi 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
Yogi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yogi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yogi 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 1,624,428 US residents.
Is Yogi a common name?
We classify Yogi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 221 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yogi most popular?
The single biggest year for Yogi was 2019, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yogi is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yogi a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yogi 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.