Yvonne
A French feminine name derived from Evon, the Germanic name meaning "yew tree".
Name Census estimates that about 95,128 living Americans carry the first name Yvonne. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yvonne today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yvonne births was 1953 (3,700 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yvonne. 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 Yvonne with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Yvonne is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 619 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Yvonne have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
95K
~ 1 in 3,603 Americans
Peak year
1953
3,700 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1990 SSA rank
#2,318
Tracked since 1886
Census
Yvonne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118,152 people with the first name Yvonne, which placed it at #480 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
#480
National first-name rank
People counted
118K
118,152 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
39.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yvonne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yvonne is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Hispanic (19.5%). 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 Yvonne 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 Yvonne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.0% · 54,304
- Black or African American26.5% · 31,305
- Hispanic or Latino19.5% · 23,087
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 4,975
- Two or more races2.8% · 3,324
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1,157
Gender
Gender distribution for Yvonne
Out of the 156,647 babies given the name Yvonne since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Yvonne as a male name
- Ranked #9,472 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1969 (17 births)
Yvonne as a female name
- Ranked #2,318 in 2024
- 80 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1953 (3,686 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yvonne appears almost entirely female. Of the 118,154 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Yvonne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yvonne from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 35,148 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yvonne 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 Yvonne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yvonnes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Yvonne, while Wyoming, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,964 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yvonne
The name Yvonne has its origins in the French language and is derived from the Germanic name Ivo or Yvo. The name Ivo is believed to have evolved from the Old Norse name Ivar, meaning "yew" or "archer." The earliest recorded use of the name Yvonne dates back to the Middle Ages.
Yvonne gained popularity as a French female name during the 12th and 13th centuries. It is a variant of the masculine name Yvon, which was widely used in medieval France. The name Yvon is thought to have been introduced to France by the Normans, who had adopted it from the Old Norse name Ivar.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Yvonne, Countess of Hainaut, who lived in the late 12th century. She was a prominent figure in the courts of Flanders and Hainaut, and her name helped popularize the use of Yvonne among the French nobility.
In the 13th century, the name Yvonne appeared in several French literary works, including the Roman de la Rose and the Chanson de Roland. This literary recognition further contributed to the name's widespread use in France during the Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Yvonne. Yvonne de Gaulle (1900-1979) was the wife of French President Charles de Gaulle and played a significant role in supporting her husband's political career. Yvonne Arnaud (1892-1958) was a renowned French actress who achieved great success on the stage and in films during the early 20th century.
Yvonne Chouteau (1929-2015) was a prominent American ballet dancer and teacher, known for her role as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Yvonne Strahovski (born 1982) is an Australian actress best known for her roles in popular TV shows like Chuck and The Handmaid's Tale.
Yvonne Catterfeld (born 1979) is a German singer and actress who gained fame as a contestant on the talent show Starmania and has since released several successful albums and appeared in various television shows and films.
While the name Yvonne has French origins, it has been widely adopted in various cultures and languages, particularly in English-speaking countries. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its melodic sound and historical significance, reflecting the cultural exchange and influences that have shaped many names throughout the centuries.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Yvonne
People
Yvonne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yvonne 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
Yvonne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yvonne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95,128 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yvonne 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 3,603 US residents.
Is Yvonne a common name?
We classify Yvonne as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 156,647 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yvonne most popular?
The single biggest year for Yvonne was 1953, when 3,700 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yvonne is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yvonne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118,152 people with the name Yvonne, or 39.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #480 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 Yvonne 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 Yvonne?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yvonne appears almost entirely female. Of the 118,154 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Yvonne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yvonne is White at 46.0%. The next largest groups are Black (26.5%) and Hispanic (19.5%). 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 Yvonne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yvonne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (54,304 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 Yvonne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yvonne a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Yvonne 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 Yvonne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yvonne 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 Yvonne 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 common is the name Yvonne?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Yvonne at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.