Name Awesome

Yancy

#11,931 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Jan 1's son

Yancy has been given to 2,951 babies in the U.S. since 1886. In 2025 it ranked #11,931 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1959, with 123 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 82% boys, 18% girls all-time.

Babies named Yancy, 2025

1 in 553,000

Yancy over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Yancy over time

In 2025, Yancy went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18862025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Yancy: meaning, origin, and history

Jan 1's son

surname transfer

What Yancy means

Yancy means “Jan 1's son”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Yancy is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈjæn.si/ for Yancy.

Origin, language, and formation

Yancy is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Yancy is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,433 boys were recorded with the name Yancy between 1886 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 123 in 1959; its best national rank was #689 in 1959.

Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,586 in 2015 to #11,931 in 2025.

In the United States, 518 girls were recorded with the name Yancy between 1968 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 21 in 2001; its best national rank was #5,450 in 1969.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Yancy?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 285,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#11,931
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Yancy sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Yancy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Yancys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Yancy was born before 1973 — so the typical Yancy is around 52 today.

Median birth year
1973
About 52 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
23.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
8.8%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
2,107
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 23.3% of all recorded uses (568).

Is Yancy rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,345
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.86×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
4.9%
Peak was 1959 (123)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#689
1959

Spellings of Yancy

Yancy is not the most common spelling — Randy is, with 36.7% against Yancy's 0.27%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Yancy is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Yancy was most concentrated in Alabama — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 225,788 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Alabama1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 100,000
  4. 4New York1 in 100,000
  5. 5Texas1 in 100,000
  6. 6Florida1 in —
  7. 7Georgia1 in —
  8. 8Illinois1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Yancy has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Yancy is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Yancy was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 514,431 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Yancy has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Yancy around the world

Where Yancy ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    1998–2001
    #4,354
    in 2001
  • Canada
    1994–1994
    #1,986
    in 1994

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Yancy

People whose public names include Yancy, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Yancy in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Yancy. Linked forms have their own page here.

Yancey

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Yancy by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,931
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#689
1959
Peak year
1959
123 that year
First recorded
1886
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,433
Count in 2025
6

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,450
1969
Peak year
2001
21 that year
First recorded
1968
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
518
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Yancy

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

YanniYandelYanisYanielYannisYankyYannickYanYanceyClancyNancyYannYanivYanalYanuelYanaiYangQuincyChancyChauncyYandielYaniYandrielYandell

Names with a curve like Yancy

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Yancy, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MicheleReginalShedrickBrookeBrookAndraAntoniaAnthoneyBrienReinaldoAngelaRenard

Sibling names for Yancy

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Yancy

Top names of 1959, Yancy's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1959Boys' names starting with Y