Yolani
A feminine name derived from the Native American Sioux word "iyolani" meaning "to behold".
Name Census estimates that about 148 living Americans carry the first name Yolani. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yolani today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yolani births was 2022 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yolani. 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
148
~ 1 in 2,315,908 Americans
Peak year
2022
15 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,918
Tracked since 2001
Census
Yolani in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 293 people with the first name Yolani, which placed it at #29,959 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
#29,959
National first-name rank
People counted
293
293 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
87.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yolani
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yolani is Hispanic at 87.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Yolani 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 Yolani at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino87.7% · 257
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 18
- Black or African American4.8% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
- Two or more races0.7% · 2
Popularity
Yolani: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yolani from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 52 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yolani 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 Yolani 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 Yolani
The name Yolani is believed to have its origins in the Yoruba language, spoken by the Yoruba people of West Africa, particularly in present-day Nigeria and parts of Benin and Togo. The name's roots can be traced back to the word "iyo," which means "born" or "brought forth," and "lani," meaning "wealth" or "prosperity." Thus, the name Yolani can be interpreted as "born into wealth" or "born into prosperity."
In the rich cultural traditions of the Yoruba people, names often carry deep symbolic meanings and are carefully chosen for their significance. The name Yolani may have been given to children born into families of affluence or as a wish for the child to experience a prosperous and abundant life.
While the origins of the name can be traced back to the Yoruba language and culture, there are no definitive records of its usage in ancient texts or historical documents from the region. However, the name's popularity seems to have spread beyond West Africa, likely through cultural exchanges and migration patterns.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Yolani can be found in the 18th century, when a woman named Yolani Makalani was born in the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) around 1750. Little is known about her life, but her name serves as an early documented instance of its usage.
In more recent history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Yolani:
1. Yolani Kadima (born 1962), a Congolese writer and human rights activist known for her work advocating for women's rights and social justice.
2. Yolani Stradford (born 1975), an American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA and overseas leagues during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
3. Yolani Gagiano (born 1982), a South African actress and model who has appeared in various television shows and films in her home country.
4. Yolani Morse (born 1987), an American singer and songwriter who gained recognition as a contestant on the reality television show "The Voice" in 2013.
5. Yolani Gadama (born 1991), a Malawian professional footballer who has played for various clubs in Malawi and South Africa.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples showcase the diverse backgrounds and fields in which individuals with the name Yolani have made their mark throughout history.
People
Yolani + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yolani 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
Yolani: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yolani?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 148 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yolani 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 2,315,908 US residents.
Is Yolani a common name?
We classify Yolani as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 149 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yolani most popular?
The single biggest year for Yolani was 2022, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yolani is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yolani in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 293 people with the name Yolani, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #29,959 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 Yolani 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 Yolani?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yolani leans strongly female. 289 people counted with this name were female (97.6%), compared with 7 male bearers (2.4%). 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 Yolani?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yolani is Hispanic at 87.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (6.1%) and Black (4.8%). 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 Yolani most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Yolani in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.7% (257 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 Yolani in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yolani a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yolani 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 Yolani still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yolani 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 Yolani 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 have the name Yolani?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.