Yang
Derived from Chinese, meaning bright, radiant, or sunshine.
Name Census estimates that about 329 living Americans carry the first name Yang. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Yang today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yang births was 1988 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yang. 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 Yang with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
329
~ 1 in 1,041,806 Americans
Peak year
1988
21 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,243
Tracked since 1981
Census
Yang in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,899 people with the first name Yang, which placed it at #2,484 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
#2,484
National first-name rank
People counted
9.9K
9,899 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
96.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yang
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yang is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Hispanic (0.6%). 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 Yang 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 Yang at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander96.4% · 9,547
- White2.2% · 217
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 57
- Black or African American0.4% · 40
- Two or more races0.4% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Yang
Yang leans heavily male at 86.1% of total registrations, but 47 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Yang as a male name
- Ranked #12,243 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (21 births)
Yang as a female name
- Ranked #19,419 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1993 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yang on both sides of the split. Of the 9,900 people counted with this name, 5,303 were male (53.6%) and 4,597 were female (46.4%).
Popularity
Yang: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yang from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 115 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yang 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 Yang during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yangs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yang
The given name Yang has its origins in Chinese culture and dates back to ancient times. It is derived from the Chinese word "陽" which means "sun" or "masculine". The character itself is a pictogram depicting a rising sun or a slope facing the sun, representing warmth, vigor, and positivity.
In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin and yang represents the duality and balance of opposing forces in the universe. Yang is associated with the masculine, light, heat, and active principles, while yin represents the feminine, dark, cold, and passive aspects of nature. This philosophical underpinning likely contributed to the name's enduring popularity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yang appears in the classic Chinese text "The Analects of Confucius", written around the 5th century BCE. In this work, Yang Huo is mentioned as a disciple of Confucius, suggesting the name's usage during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China.
Throughout Chinese history, several notable figures have borne the name Yang. One of the most prominent was Yang Guang (569-618 CE), an emperor of the Sui Dynasty who expanded the empire's territories and oversaw the completion of the Grand Canal. Another was Yang Zhu (440-360 BCE), a philosopher who advocated for the pursuit of individual happiness and freedom from societal constraints.
In the realm of literature, Yang Wanli (1127-1206 CE) was a renowned poet and calligrapher of the Southern Song Dynasty, celebrated for his mastery of the cursive script. Yang Xiong (53-18 BCE), a Han Dynasty philosopher and writer, is known for his work "Fayan" (Model Sayings), which explored the art of persuasive speech.
More recently, Yang Zhenning (1922-2022) was a Chinese physicist and Nobel Laureate who made significant contributions to the field of particle physics, particularly in the development of Yang-Mills theory and the Yang-Baxter equation.
While the name Yang has its roots in Chinese culture, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, transcending linguistic and cultural boundaries. Its association with the sun, masculinity, and positive energy has likely contributed to its enduring appeal across diverse societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Yang
People
Yang + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yang 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
Yang: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yang?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 329 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yang 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 1,041,806 US residents.
Is Yang a common name?
We classify Yang as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yang most popular?
The single biggest year for Yang was 1988, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yang is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yang in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,899 people with the name Yang, or 3.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,484 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 Yang 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 Yang?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Yang on both sides of the split. Of the 9,900 people counted with this name, 5,303 were male (53.6%) and 4,597 were female (46.4%). 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 Yang?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yang is Asian/Pacific Islander at 96.4%. The next largest groups are White (2.2%) and Hispanic (0.6%). 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 Yang most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yang in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.4% (9,547 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 Yang in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yang a male name?
Yes, 86.1% of people registered as Yang 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.
Is Yang still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yang 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 Yang 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 Americans are named Yang?
See how many Americans are named Yang on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.