Yul
Yul is a masculine Russian name meaning "bison".
Name Census estimates that about 607 living Americans carry the first name Yul. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yul today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yul births was 1960 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yul. 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 Yul with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
607
~ 1 in 564,669 Americans
Peak year
1960
32 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,197
Tracked since 1957
Census
Yul in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 678 people with the first name Yul, which placed it at #16,581 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
#16,581
National first-name rank
People counted
678
678 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yul
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yul is Black at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.7%) and Hispanic (17.0%). 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 Yul 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 Yul at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American42.9% · 291
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.7% · 188
- Hispanic or Latino17.0% · 115
- White9.9% · 67
- Two or more races2.4% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Yul: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yul from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 219 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yul 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 Yul during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yuls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Alabama, Arkansas recorded the most babies named Yul, while Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yul
The name Yul is believed to have its origins in the Korean language. It is a variation of the more common Korean name Yulyeol, which means "universe" or "cosmos" in English. The name is thought to have first emerged during the Goryeo dynasty, which ruled the Korean peninsula from the 10th to the 14th centuries.
One of the earliest known references to the name Yul can be found in the Samguk Sagi, a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, written in the 12th century. The text mentions a figure named Yulyeol, who was a scholar and poet during the Goryeo period.
The name Yul gained wider recognition in Korea during the Joseon dynasty, which lasted from the 14th to the 19th century. During this time, several notable figures bore the name, including Yul Gok (1536-1584), a renowned Confucian scholar and philosopher, and Yul Yeong (1720-1799), a prominent calligrapher and artist.
Beyond Korea, the name Yul has also been used in other cultures and contexts. In Russia, for example, the name Yul is sometimes used as a diminutive form of the name Yulian, which is derived from the Latin name Julianus. One notable Russian figure with this name was Yul Brynner (1920-1985), the actor best known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the musical "The King and I."
Another famous individual with the name Yul was Yul Edochie, a Nigerian actor, and filmmaker born in 1982. He has starred in numerous Nollywood productions and has won several awards for his work in the Nigerian film industry.
In the Western world, the name Yul gained some popularity in the mid-20th century, likely due to the fame of the actor Yul Brynner. One notable bearer of the name was Yul Anderson (1945-2021), an American actor and singer who appeared in several Broadway productions and television shows.
While not as common as some other names, Yul has a rich history and has been used across various cultures and time periods. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Korea, and it has been borne by scholars, artists, and performers throughout the centuries.
People
Yul + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yul 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
Yul: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yul?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 607 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yul 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 564,669 US residents.
Is Yul a common name?
We classify Yul as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 669 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yul most popular?
The single biggest year for Yul was 1960, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yul is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yul in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 678 people with the name Yul, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,581 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 Yul 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 Yul?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yul leans strongly male. 637 people counted with this name were male (93.4%), compared with 45 female bearers (6.6%). 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 Yul?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yul is Black at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.7%) and Hispanic (17.0%). 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 Yul most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Yul in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (291 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 Yul in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yul a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yul 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 Yul still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yul 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 Yul 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 have Yul as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.