Yule
A masculine name of English origin referring to the pagan winter solstice festival.
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Yule. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 50.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Yule today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yule births was 2014 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yule. 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 Yule. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2014
5 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2014 SSA rank
#14,007
Tracked since 2014
Census
Yule in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 152 people with the first name Yule, which placed it at #44,992 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
#44,992
National first-name rank
People counted
152
152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
50.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yule
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yule is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.4%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Yule 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 Yule at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander50.7% · 77
- White16.4% · 25
- Black or African American14.5% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino13.2% · 20
- Two or more races4.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Yule
Yule is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 10 total registrations, 5 (50.0%) were male and 5 (50.0%) were female.
Yule as a male name
- Ranked #14,007 in 2014
- 5 male births in 2014
- Peak: 2014 (5 births)
Yule as a female name
- Ranked #17,572 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2021 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yule on both sides of the split. Of the 149 people counted with this name, 104 were male (69.8%) and 45 were female (30.2%).
Popularity
Yule: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yule from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, 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
Yule 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 Yule 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 Yule
The name Yule has its origins in Old English, derived from the word "geol," which means "Christmas day" or "midwinter festival." It is closely linked to the pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, which were later adopted into Christian traditions.
The name is believed to have been in use as early as the 5th century, during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain. It was a common practice among the Anglo-Saxons to name children after important festivals or events, and Yule was one of the most significant celebrations of the year.
Historically, the name Yule was particularly popular in Germanic and Scandinavian cultures, where the midwinter festival was celebrated with great fervor. In Norse mythology, the Yule log was an important symbol, representing the cyclical nature of the seasons and the return of the sun.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Yule can be found in the Old English poem "Beowulf," written between the 8th and 11th centuries. The poem mentions the celebration of Yule, highlighting its significance in the cultural traditions of the time.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Yule. One of the most famous was Yule Brenner (1915-2005), an acclaimed American actor and producer, best known for his performances in films such as "The King and I" and "The Magnificent Seven."
Another notable figure was Yule Cain (1922-1986), an American novelist and short story writer, whose works explored themes of alienation and societal norms. His novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice" was a critical success and later adapted into a film.
In the field of science, Yule Edgeworth (1845-1926) was a prominent Irish economist and philosopher, known for his contributions to the field of mathematical economics and the development of the Edgeworth Box.
Yule Brynner (1920-1985) was a Russian-born American actor, best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the musical "The King and I," for which he won an Academy Award.
Lastly, Yule Gibbons (1944-1997) was an American television host and environmentalist, best known for his work on the long-running television series "Wild Kingdom," which brought the wonders of the natural world into homes across America.
People
Yule + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yule 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
Yule: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yule?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yule 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 Yule a common name?
We classify Yule 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 Yule most popular?
The single biggest year for Yule was 2014, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yule is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yule in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 152 people with the name Yule, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,992 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 Yule 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 Yule?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yule on both sides of the split. Of the 149 people counted with this name, 104 were male (69.8%) and 45 were female (30.2%). 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 Yule?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yule is Asian/Pacific Islander at 50.7%. The next largest groups are White (16.4%) and Black (14.5%). 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 Yule most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yule in the 2020 Census, accounting for 50.7% (77 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 Yule in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yule a female name?
Yes, 50.0% of people registered as Yule 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 Yule still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yule 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 Yule 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 Yule?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Yule, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.