Yunis
A masculine Arabic name meaning "Jonas", the prophet.
Name Census estimates that about 403 living Americans carry the first name Yunis. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yunis today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yunis births was 2024 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yunis. 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
403
~ 1 in 850,507 Americans
Peak year
2024
38 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,203
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Yunis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yunis from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 194 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yunis remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yunis 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 Yunis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yunis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Minnesota, California recorded the most babies named Yunis, while Illinois, California, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yunis
The name Yunis has its origins in Arabic, deriving from the root word "yun" or "yūn," which means "Greek" or "Ionian." It is a masculine name that has been in use for centuries across the Middle East and North Africa.
In the Islamic tradition, Yunis is believed to be the Arabic rendition of the biblical name Jonah, referring to the prophet known for being swallowed by a whale or giant fish. The story of Jonah (Yunis in Arabic) is recounted in the Quran, where he is praised for his steadfast faith and obedience to God.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yunis can be found in the works of the renowned Arab poet and scholar, Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani, who lived in the 10th century CE. He mentioned a poet named Yunis al-Katib (Yunis the Scribe) in his anthology, "Kitab al-Aghani" (The Book of Songs).
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Yunis. One of the most prominent was Yunis Khayat (1858-1944), a Syrian-American writer, journalist, and activist who played a significant role in promoting Arab culture and literature in the United States.
Another distinguished bearer of the name was Yunis Bahri (1839-1902), an Egyptian scholar and reformer who advocated for modernization and educational reforms in Egypt during the 19th century.
In the realm of science, Yunis Caruthers (1936-2019) was an American chemist and pioneer in the field of molecular biology, renowned for his contributions to the development of synthetic DNA.
The name Yunis has also been carried by influential religious figures, such as Yunis al-Khuri (1587-1674), a prominent Maronite scholar and theologian from Lebanon, and Yunis al-Sabtī (1671-1720), a Moroccan scholar and Sufi mystic.
Throughout the centuries, the name Yunis has maintained its significance and has been borne by individuals from various backgrounds and professions, each leaving their mark on history in their own unique way.
People
Yunis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yunis 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
Yunis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yunis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 403 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yunis 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 850,507 US residents.
Is Yunis a common name?
We classify Yunis as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 406 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yunis most popular?
The single biggest year for Yunis was 2024, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yunis is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yunis a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yunis 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.
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.