Yaelle
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God's mountain or rock".
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Yaelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yaelle today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yaelle births was 2013 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yaelle. 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 Yaelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yaelle. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
2013
7 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,088
Tracked since 2007
Popularity
Yaelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yaelle from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 32 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yaelle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yaelle 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 Yaelle 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 Yaelle
The name Yaelle is of Hebrew origin and is derived from the biblical Hebrew name Yael, which means "ibex" or "mountain goat." The name Yael first appears in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, where Yael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, drives a tent peg through the head of Sisera, an enemy commander, while he sleeps in her tent.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Yaelle is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. The name appears to have been relatively uncommon in ancient times, but it gained popularity in later centuries among Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East.
During the Middle Ages, the name Yaelle was sometimes used as a variation of the name Yael, particularly among Sephardic Jewish communities in Spain and Portugal. In the 16th century, there are records of a Jewish woman named Yaelle de Montoya, who lived in Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition.
In the 18th century, a notable figure named Yaelle Herzfeld (1737-1812) was a Jewish scholar and author in Germany. She wrote several works on Jewish law and philosophy, and was highly respected in her community.
Another notable bearer of the name was Yaelle Jacobson (1892-1962), a Swedish-born Jewish activist who worked to help Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution during World War II. She was recognized by Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, for her bravery and humanitarian efforts.
In more recent times, Yaelle Kaplan (1924-2002) was an Israeli politician and activist who served as a member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) from 1973 to 1977. She was known for her work in promoting women's rights and advocating for peace in the Middle East.
While the name Yaelle is still relatively uncommon, it has become more popular in recent decades, particularly among Jewish communities in Israel, Europe, and North America. The name's biblical origins and strong connection to Jewish history and culture have contributed to its enduring appeal.
People
Yaelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yaelle 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
Yaelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yaelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yaelle 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Yaelle a common name?
We classify Yaelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yaelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Yaelle was 2013, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yaelle is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Yaelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yaelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yaelle 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 Yaelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yaelle 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 Yaelle 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Yaelle?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.