Yu
A gender-neutral name of Chinese origin meaning "jade" or "precious".
Name Census estimates that about 800 living Americans carry the first name Yu. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.6% of registrations being male. The average person named Yu today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yu births was 2007 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yu. 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 Yu with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
800
~ 1 in 428,443 Americans
Peak year
2007
35 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,169
Tracked since 1969
Census
Yu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 13,144 people with the first name Yu, which placed it at #2,067 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
#2,067
National first-name rank
People counted
13K
13,144 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Yu 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 Yu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.7% · 12,716
- White1.9% · 255
- Black or African American0.5% · 65
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 60
- Two or more races0.4% · 47
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Yu
Yu is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 821 total registrations, 440 (53.6%) were male and 381 (46.4%) were female.
Yu as a male name
- Ranked #14,169 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2002 (17 births)
Yu as a female name
- Ranked #15,171 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (23 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yu on both sides of the split. Of the 13,140 people counted with this name, 5,455 were male (41.5%) and 7,685 were female (58.5%).
Popularity
Yu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yu from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 241 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yu 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 Yu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yus live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Yu, while Florida, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yu
The given name Yu has its origins in Chinese culture, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is a monosyllabic name derived from the Chinese character 雨, which means "rain" or "precipitation." This character is composed of the radicals representing "clouds" and "water," symbolizing the life-giving essence of rainfall.
Yu is a name that appears in various Chinese texts and historical records, including the classic novel "Journey to the West," where it is the name of one of the main characters, the Monkey King. In this literary work, Yu represents a mischievous yet heroic figure, known for his extraordinary abilities and determination.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yu can be found in the ancient Chinese text "Shiji" (Records of the Grand Historian), written by Sima Qian around 109 BCE. This text mentions Yu the Great, a legendary ruler and engineer who is credited with taming the floods and establishing a system of governance during the Xia Dynasty (circa 2070–1600 BCE).
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Yu. One such person is Yu Xin (513-581 CE), a prominent calligrapher and scholar during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China. His masterful calligraphic works have been celebrated and studied for centuries.
Another famous Yu is Yu Dafu (1896-1945), a renowned Chinese writer and poet who played a significant role in the May Fourth Movement, a cultural and literary renaissance in early 20th century China. His works explored themes of individualism, feminism, and social critique, leaving a lasting impact on Chinese literature.
In the realm of science, Yu Ming (1884-1949) was a pioneering Chinese physicist and educator. He made significant contributions to the development of modern physics in China and played a crucial role in establishing the country's first physics laboratory.
Lastly, Yu Zhengsheng (born 1945) is a prominent Chinese politician who served as the Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, one of the highest advisory bodies in China, from 2013 to 2018.
The name Yu continues to be a popular choice for boys in Chinese-speaking communities, carrying with it a rich cultural heritage and associations with historical figures who have left their mark on various fields.
People
Yu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yu 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
Yu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 800 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yu 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 428,443 US residents.
Is Yu a common name?
We classify Yu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 821 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yu most popular?
The single biggest year for Yu was 2007, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yu is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 13,144 people with the name Yu, or 4.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,067 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 Yu 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 Yu?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yu on both sides of the split. Of the 13,140 people counted with this name, 5,455 were male (41.5%) and 7,685 were female (58.5%). 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 Yu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yu is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.9%) and Black (0.5%). 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 Yu most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.7% (12,716 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 Yu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yu a male name?
Yes, 53.6% of people registered as Yu 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 Yu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yu 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 Yu 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 Yu?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.