You
A Chinese masculine given name meaning "have" or "possession".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name You. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named You today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of You births was 1994 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for You. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for You with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name You. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
1994
5 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2004 SSA rank
#13,178
Tracked since 1994
Census
You in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,388 people with the first name You, which placed it at #6,652 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
#6,652
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,388 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
61.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for You
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named You is Asian/Pacific Islander at 61.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.0%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 You 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 You at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander61.2% · 1,461
- White28.0% · 669
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 126
- Black or African American3.6% · 85
- Two or more races1.3% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 15
Popularity
You: popularity over time
The SSA tracks You from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5 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
You 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 You 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 You
The name You has its origins in the English language, and it can be traced back to the late 16th century. It is derived from the Old English word "ye," which was a plural form of the second-person pronoun "thou." This word was commonly used in formal and literary contexts and had a long history in the English language.
The name You was not widely used as a given name until the 19th century, when it started to gain popularity among English-speaking communities. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name was in 1825, when You Wang, a Chinese translator and interpreter, was born in Guangzhou, China.
In the late 19th century, the name You gained some recognition with the birth of You Lushan (1864-1933), a Chinese revolutionary and politician who played a significant role in the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty in 1911.
Another notable figure with the name You was You Youzhi (1867-1940), a Chinese philosopher and educator who was a prominent figure in the May Fourth Movement and the New Culture Movement in the early 20th century.
In the 20th century, the name You became more widespread, with several notable individuals bearing this name. One such person was You Jianxia (1905-1997), a Chinese mathematician and educator who made significant contributions to the field of differential geometry.
Another prominent figure with the name You was You Xiaoxian (1914-2005), a Chinese actress and singer who was one of the most celebrated performers of her time in China.
While the name You was not as common as some other names, it has been carried by several notable individuals throughout history, particularly in China and other parts of East Asia. However, it is important to note that the use of the name You as a given name was relatively rare in many other cultures and regions of the world.
People
You + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with You 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
You: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named You?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for You 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is You a common name?
We classify You as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was You most popular?
The single biggest year for You was 1994, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living You is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was You in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,388 people with the name You, or 0.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,652 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 You 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 You?
The 2020 Census sex table shows You on both sides of the split. Of the 2,385 people counted with this name, 1,247 were male (52.3%) and 1,138 were female (47.7%). 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 You?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named You is Asian/Pacific Islander at 61.2%. The next largest groups are White (28.0%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 You most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named You in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.2% (1,461 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 You in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is You a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as You 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 You still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded You 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 You 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 You as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named You, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.