Name Awesome

Yaw

#11,937 in 2025Boys' name

Born on Thursday

Yaw has been given to 405 babies in the U.S. since 1973. In 2025 it ranked #11,937 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1997, with 18 recorded.

Babies named Yaw, 2025

1 in 553,000

Yaw over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Yaw: meaning, origin, and history

Born on Thursday

Akan

What Yaw means

Yaw means “born on Thursday”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Yaw is used in Akan.

Origin, language, and formation

Yaw is used in Sranan Tongo. Its origins include Akan.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Yaba.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Sranan Tongo, Yaw is pronounced /jau̯/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 405 boys were recorded with the name Yaw between 1973 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 18 in 1997; its best national rank was #3,848 in 1978.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,032 in 2020 to #11,937 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,045 in 2015 to #11,937 in 2025.

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 Yaw?

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
#11,937
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Yaw 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 Yaw. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Yaws were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Yaw was born before 2004 — so the typical Yaw is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
28.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
61.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
405
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 28.1% of all recorded uses (114).

Is Yaw 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
−4,704
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,905
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,892
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.50×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
33.3%
Peak was 1997 (18)
Years since peak
28
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,848
1978

Where Yaw is used

Across 1910–2025, Yaw was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,110,320 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 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. Yaw has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Yaw around the world

Where Yaw 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    2004–2008
    #726
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Yaw by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#11,937
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,905
Best rank ever
#3,848
1978
Peak year
1997
18 that year
First recorded
1973
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
405
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Yaw

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

KyawNanayaw

Sibling names for Yaw

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 Yaw

Top names of 1997, Yaw's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1978Boys' names starting with YAkan Boy NamesAkan Names