Recorded 1954–2025 · United States
Yael was most popular in 2023, when 472 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,229 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,304, with 431 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 9,708 people named Yael.
Yael first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1954, which makes it about 71 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 69 of the 72 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 9,708 American births named Yael between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 9,576 are estimated to be alive today.
431 American babies were named Yael in 2025, ranking #1,304 that year.
Yael is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 419 births a year, against 322 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +30% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Yael is a unisex name — 46.4% of the 9,708 Americans given it were girls and 53.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 2003 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 35% girls and 65% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 9,576 Americans named Yael are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 14 years old, and half are between 6 and 22.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Yael on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org