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Young

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Alternate transcription of Yeong

Young has been given to 2,764 babies in the U.S. since 1880. 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 1991, with 42 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 81% boys, 19% girls all-time.

Babies named Young, 2022

1 in 564,000

Young over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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

In 2022, Young went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

18802022

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.

Young: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Yeong

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Young means

Young is a alternate transcription of Yeong.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Young is used in Korean.

Another recorded pronunciation is /jʌŋ/ for Young.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

* As an English, Scottish, and northern Irish surname, from the adjective young, used to distinguish a younger brother or son. This sense is comparable to the surnames le Yunge, German Jong and Junk, Dutch Jong and de Jongh, French Lejeune and LaJeunesse, assimilated from Dion and Guyon. * As a Chinese surname, from the following: ** Cantonese 楊 /杨 (joeng⁴). Doublet of Yeung. ** Hokkien 楊 /杨 (iông / iâng). Doublet of Yu, Yeo, Yeoh. ** Mandarin 楊 /杨 (yáng). Doublet of Yang.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Young (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Young is used in English.

Young comes through yue 楊, Hokkien 楊 and Mandarin 楊.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Yeong.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Young is pronounced /jʌŋ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,234 boys were recorded with the name Young between 1880 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 42 in 1991; its best national rank was #504 in 1880.

In the United States, 530 girls were recorded with the name Young between 1920 and 1998. Its highest annual count was 19 in 1983; its best national rank was #2,801 in 1952.

How common is Young?

Young had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2022, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2022
1 in 564,000
6 of 3,385,755 births
Among boys only
1 in 291,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2022
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
391,139 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Young 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 2022 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 391,139 children born in 2022 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Young. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Youngs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Young was born before 1963 — so the typical Young is around 62 today.

Median birth year
1963
About 62 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
14.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
10.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,318
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 14.3% of all recorded uses (320).

Is Young 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 1991 (42)
Years since peak
34
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#504
1880

Spellings of Young

Young is not the most common spelling — Doug is, with 67.1% against Young's 6.7%.

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 Young is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Young was most concentrated in Kansas — about 1 in 25,000 boys, against 1 in 149,968 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kansas1 in 25,000
  2. 2Hawaii1 in 50,000
  3. 3Alabama1 in 100,000
  4. 4California1 in 100,000
  5. 5Georgia1 in 100,000
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7Texas1 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. Young has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Young is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Young was most concentrated in Kansas — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 164,073 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kansas1 in 10,000
  2. 2California1 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. Young has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Young around the world

Where Young 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
    1997–2003
    #3,467
    in 2003

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Notable people named Young

People whose public names include Young, 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.

Young in other languages

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

LingYongRongYíngYīngYeong

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

Young by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#504
1880
Peak year
1991
42 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
2,234
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,801
1952
Peak year
1983
19 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
1998
All-time count
530
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Young

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

YousufYousifYounisYousefYounesYoussefYousafTrungYounusYousofYoucefHungYoussoufMungDungSungChungTungSeungJungCungYounessYouriAung

Names with a curve like Young

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

BenjamanColeyNevilleConradoRosalioGerritZebDionicioRuebenCecilioModestoSheridan

Sibling names for Young

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 Young

Top names of 1991, Young's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with Y