Yomi
A feminine Japanese name meaning "reading" or "beautiful child".
Name Census estimates that about 55 living Americans carry the first name Yomi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yomi today is around 4 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yomi births was 2021 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yomi. 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 Yomi. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
55
~ 1 in 6,231,897 Americans
Peak year
2021
18 babies that year
Average age
4
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,385
Tracked since 2020
Census
Yomi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 219 people with the first name Yomi, which placed it at #36,320 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
#36,320
National first-name rank
People counted
219
219 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yomi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yomi is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Yomi 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 Yomi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.1% · 160
- Hispanic or Latino12.8% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 14
- White5.0% · 11
- Two or more races2.3% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Yomi: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Yomi 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 Yomi 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 | 0 | 55 | 55 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Yomi
The name Yomi traces its origins to the Japanese language and culture. It is a unisex name that has been in use for centuries in Japan.
Yomi is derived from the Japanese word "yomi," which means "underworld" or "realm of the dead" in Shinto mythology. In Japanese folklore, Yomi is the name of the dark and gloomy underworld where the souls of the dead reside.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Yomi can be found in the Kojiki, an ancient Japanese chronicle dating back to the 8th century CE. The Kojiki is a collection of myths and legends that provide insights into the early Japanese belief systems and cosmology.
In the Kojiki, the story of Izanami-no-Mikoto's descent into Yomi, the underworld, after her death during the birth of the fire god, Kagutsuchi, is narrated. This tale is significant in Japanese mythology and has contributed to the cultural significance of the name Yomi.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yomi. One such person was Yomi Ganku (1605-1658), a renowned Japanese poet and haiku master who lived during the Edo period. His haiku poems are still widely studied and appreciated today.
Another famous bearer of the name Yomi was Yomi Takeda (1836-1912), a Japanese educator and reformer who played a crucial role in modernizing Japan's education system during the Meiji era.
In the realm of Japanese literature, Yomi Hirayama (1835-1916) was a prominent writer and novelist who contributed significantly to the development of modern Japanese literature in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The name Yomi has also been used in the Japanese entertainment industry. Yomi Hirasaka (1939-2020) was a renowned Japanese actress and voice actress who had a prolific career spanning several decades.
During the Sengoku period (15th-17th centuries), Yomi Akechi (1521-1598) was a notable samurai and military commander who served under the powerful Oda clan. He played a significant role in several battles and campaigns during this turbulent period of Japanese history.
While the name Yomi has its roots in Japanese mythology and culture, it has gained popularity worldwide in recent times, with people from various backgrounds adopting it for its unique and intriguing sound and meaning.
People
Yomi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yomi 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
Yomi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yomi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 55 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yomi 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 6,231,897 US residents.
Is Yomi a common name?
We classify Yomi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 55.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 55 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yomi most popular?
The single biggest year for Yomi was 2021, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yomi is about 4 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yomi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 219 people with the name Yomi, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,320 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 Yomi 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 Yomi?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yomi on both sides of the split. Of the 224 people counted with this name, 142 were male (63.4%) and 82 were female (36.6%). 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 Yomi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yomi is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Yomi most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Yomi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (160 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 Yomi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yomi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yomi 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 Yomi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yomi 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 Yomi 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 are called Yomi?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.