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Ying

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Flower, petal, brave, hero

Ying has been given to 400 babies in the U.S. since 1980. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1992, with 16 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 65% girls, 35% boys all-time.

Babies named Ying, 2009

1 in 637,000

Ying over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Ying over time

In 2009, Ying went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19802009

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.

Ying: meaning, origin, and history

Flower, petal, brave, hero

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ying means

Ying means “flower, petal, brave, hero”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Ying is used in Chinese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /iŋ/ for Ying.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 260 girls were recorded with the name Ying between 1980 and 2009. Its highest annual count was 16 in 1992; its best national rank was #4,964 in 1984.

In the United States, 140 boys were recorded with the name Ying between 1980 and 1998. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1987; its best national rank was #3,949 in 1987.

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.

How common is Ying?

Ying had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2009, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2009
1 in 637,000
6 of 3,820,315 births
Among girls only
1 in 306,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2009
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
441,341 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ying sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2009 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 441,341 children born in 2009 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ying. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Yings were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ying was born before 1992 — so the typical Ying is around 33 today.

Median birth year
1992
About 33 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
40.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
76.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
260
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 40.8% of all recorded uses (106).

Is Ying 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
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1992 (16)
Years since peak
33
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,964
1984

Spellings of Ying

Ying is not the most common spelling — Tina is, with 40.1% against Ying's 0.04%.

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 Ying is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Ying was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 449,727 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Minnesota1 in —
  3. 3New York1 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. Ying has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Ying is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Ying was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 444,417 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Wisconsin1 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. Ying has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ying around the world

Where Ying 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
    1996–2020
    #3,899
    in 2020
  • Canada
    1991–2021
    #3,354
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1981–2004
    #700
    in 2004

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

Ying by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,964
1984
Peak year
1992
16 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2009
All-time count
260
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,949
1987
Peak year
1987
12 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
1998
All-time count
140
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ying

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

YiningCingYinaLingMingJingAmazingYinuoTingMeilingKingStarlingDarlingAshlingWingYinIrvingMorningAislingManningNingSpringChingCarling

Sibling names for Ying

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 Ying

Top names of 1992, Ying's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1984Girls' names starting with Y