735 Baby Names That Start With Y (With Meanings and Popularity)
Baby names that start with Y are beautiful but uncommon, with only ten ranking in the US Top 1000. The most common Y name for girls is Yara, a multicultural names with origins in Arabic, Portuguese, and Persian, among others. For boys, the Arabic name Yusuf tops the list — this and spelling variation Yousef rank considerably higher in England than in the US.
Along with Yara, other girl names beginning with Y in the US Top 1000 include Yaretzi, Yareli, and Yamileth. In addition to Yusuf, other boy names starting with Y in the US Top 1000 include Yosef, Yahya, Yehuda, Yahir, Yousef, and Yael.
Y names are heating up for boys in the US, driven primarily by Yiddish and Hebrew names like Yehuda, Yisroel, Yitzchok, Yaakov, and Yeshua.
Unique names with the Y initial include prepster names Yardley, Yale, Yeats, and York. Among the international options that begin with the letter Y we recommend are the Russian Yasha, Japanese Yoko, Arabic Yasir, and Israeli Yonit and Yarden, the original name from which Jordan derived.
Here, our full selection of names that start with Y, ordered by their current popularity on Nameberry.
Related:
- Yves
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"yew wood"
- Yara
Origin:
Arabic, Persian, Brazilian, HebrewMeaning:
"friend, helper; strength; water nymph; honeycomb"
- Yuna
Origin:
Japanese, Breton, Korean, Chinese, DutchMeaning:
"superiority, gentleness, or citrus fruit; lamb; willow, abundant, child, happy + to reach, to hold; jade + elegant, beautiful; June"
- Yvaine
Origin:
Female variation of Yvain or ScottishMeaning:
"evening star"
- Yvette
Origin:
French, feminine of YvesMeaning:
"yew tree"
- Yvonne
Origin:
FrenchMeaning:
"yew wood"
- Ysella
Origin:
CornishMeaning:
"modest"
- Yancy
Origin:
American variation of Jansen, Dutch, Native AmericanMeaning:
"son of Jan; yankee"
- Ymir
Origin:
NorseMeaning:
"cry"
- Yaretzi
Origin:
Nahuatl, AztecMeaning:
"you will always be loved"
- Yuki
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"snow; happiness"
- Yuli
- Yolanda
Origin:
Spanish from GreekMeaning:
"violet flower"
- Yuki
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"snow; happiness"
- Yuri
Origin:
Russian variation of George
- Yona
Origin:
Cherokee or variation of Jonah, HebrewMeaning:
"bear; dove"
- Yue
- Yamileth
Origin:
Spanish variation of Jamila, ArabicMeaning:
"beautiful"
- Yanis
Origin:
Greek, French, from HebrewMeaning:
"gift of God"
- Yasmin
Origin:
PersianMeaning:
"jasmine flower"
The Nameberry App Is Live

- Swipe through thousands of names with your partner
- Names you match on are saved to your shared list
- Get personalized recommendations that learn based on your and your partner's preferences
- Partner with friends and family to find names you all love
- Backed by Nameberry's 20 years of data around name preferences.



