Yidel
A Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew name Yehudah, meaning "praised".
Name Census estimates that about 275 living Americans carry the first name Yidel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yidel today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yidel births was 2018 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yidel. 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 Yidel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
275
~ 1 in 1,246,379 Americans
Peak year
2018
18 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,254
Tracked since 1990
Census
Yidel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 242 people with the first name Yidel, which placed it at #33,953 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
#33,953
National first-name rank
People counted
242
242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yidel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yidel is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.7%). 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 Yidel 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 Yidel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.3% · 221
- Hispanic or Latino5.4% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
Popularity
Yidel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yidel 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 116 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yidel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yidel 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 Yidel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yidels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yidel
The given name Yidel has its origins in the Yiddish language, which was widely spoken by Ashkenazi Jewish communities across Europe from the 9th century onwards. The name is derived from the Hebrew name Yehudah, which means "praised" or "to give thanks." It is believed to have been a popular name among Yiddish-speaking Jews during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yidel can be found in the 16th century. Yidel ben Moshe Lifschitz, a Polish-Lithuanian rabbi and scholar, was born in 1555 and is known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and ethics.
In the 17th century, Yidel Duner was a prominent Jewish merchant and community leader in Amsterdam. He played a significant role in the establishment of the city's Jewish quarter and the construction of its first synagogue.
During the 18th century, Yidel Kaplin, a Ukrainian-born Jewish writer and poet, gained recognition for his works in Yiddish literature. He was born in 1730 and is credited with popularizing the use of the name Yidel through his literary works.
In the 19th century, Yidel Fein, a Russian-born Jewish scholar and educator, made significant contributions to the study of Hebrew and Jewish studies. He was born in 1859 and served as the principal of a prominent Jewish school in Vilna.
Another notable figure with the name Yidel was Yidel Adler, a Polish-born Jewish activist and community leader who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was born in 1878 and played a crucial role in advocating for the rights and welfare of Jewish communities in Poland.
While the name Yidel has its roots in the Yiddish language and Jewish culture, it has also been adopted by other communities over time, although its usage has remained relatively rare compared to other Jewish names.
People
Yidel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yidel 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
Yidel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yidel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 275 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yidel 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 1,246,379 US residents.
Is Yidel a common name?
We classify Yidel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yidel most popular?
The single biggest year for Yidel was 2018, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yidel is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yidel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 242 people with the name Yidel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,953 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 Yidel 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 Yidel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yidel leans strongly male. 231 people counted with this name were male (97.5%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.5%). 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 Yidel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yidel is White at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.7%). 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 Yidel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yidel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (221 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 Yidel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yidel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yidel 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 Yidel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yidel 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 Yidel 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 Yidel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Yidel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.