Yousuf
A masculine Arabic name meaning "he will increase" or "he upon whom increase is bestowed".
Name Census estimates that about 1,647 living Americans carry the first name Yousuf. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yousuf today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yousuf births was 2022 (101 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yousuf. 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 Yousuf with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Yousuf is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 208,108 Americans
Peak year
2022
101 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,802
Tracked since 1983
Census
Yousuf in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,776 people with the first name Yousuf, which placed it at #8,208 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
#8,208
National first-name rank
People counted
1.8K
1,776 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
59.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yousuf
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yousuf is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.1%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Yousuf 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 Yousuf at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander59.1% · 1,050
- White26.2% · 465
- Two or more races7.0% · 125
- Black or African American6.6% · 117
- Hispanic or Latino1.1% · 19
Popularity
Yousuf: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yousuf from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 712 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yousuf remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yousuf 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 Yousuf during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yousufs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Yousuf, while Pennsylvania, Washington, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 68 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yousuf
The name Yousuf is derived from the Arabic name Yusuf, which has its origins in the Hebrew name Yosef. The name Yosef is believed to be derived from the Hebrew root word "yasaf," which means "to add" or "to increase." It is a name that has been used for centuries in various cultures and regions, particularly in the Middle East and among followers of the Abrahamic faiths.
One of the earliest and most notable references to the name Yousuf can be found in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. In the Quran, Yousuf (Joseph) is a prominent figure, and his story is recounted in detail in the 12th chapter, known as Surat Yusuf. This chapter narrates the life of the Prophet Yousuf and his trials and triumphs, making him a significant figure in Islamic tradition.
The name Yousuf also appears in the Bible, where it is rendered as Joseph. In the Old Testament, Joseph is the son of Jacob and Rachel, and his story is told in the Book of Genesis. He is depicted as a dreamer and interpreter of dreams, and his life is marked by adversity, betrayal, and eventual triumph. Joseph's story is a testament to faith, perseverance, and divine providence.
Throughout history, there have been many notable figures who bore the name Yousuf or its variants. One of the earliest recorded examples is Yusuf ibn Tashfin (1009-1106), the Berber ruler of the Almoravid dynasty who consolidated power in North Africa and parts of Spain. Another famous bearer of the name was Yusuf Salah al-Din (1137-1193), better known as Saladin, the Kurdish Muslim sultan who led the Islamic forces against the Crusaders and recaptured Jerusalem in 1187.
In the arts and literature, Yousuf has been a prominent name as well. The 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi wrote a famous epic poem titled "Khosrow and Shirin," in which one of the main characters is named Yousuf. In the 19th century, the Egyptian writer and scholar Yousuf al-Sharouni (1825-1889) made significant contributions to the Arabic literary renaissance.
Other notable figures with the name Yousuf include Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), the Armenian-Canadian photographer renowned for his portraits of notable figures like Winston Churchill and Albert Einstein, and Yousuf Raza Gillani (born 1952), the former Prime Minister of Pakistan who served from 2008 to 2012.
The name Yousuf has endured through the centuries, carrying with it a rich historical and cultural significance. Its origins in the Abrahamic faiths and its presence in various literary and historical works have contributed to its enduring popularity across different regions and cultures.
People
Yousuf + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yousuf 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
Yousuf: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yousuf?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,647 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yousuf 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 208,108 US residents.
Is Yousuf a common name?
We classify Yousuf as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,664 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yousuf most popular?
The single biggest year for Yousuf was 2022, when 101 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yousuf is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yousuf in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,776 people with the name Yousuf, or 0.59 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,208 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 Yousuf 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 Yousuf?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yousuf appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,779 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Yousuf?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yousuf is Asian/Pacific Islander at 59.1%. The next largest groups are White (26.2%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Yousuf most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yousuf in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.1% (1,050 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 Yousuf in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yousuf a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yousuf 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 Yousuf still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yousuf 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 Yousuf 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 people share the name Yousuf?
Want to know how many people have the name Yousuf? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.