Humanverse

Yates vs Yatzil

American parents have registered 517 Yateses since 1880, against 508 Yatzils. But in 2025 it was Yatzil that was commoner, 20 babies to 14.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Yates against Yatzil, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Yates Yatzil

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 65 years in which either name was published, Yates for 46 years and Yatzil for 19 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Yates Yatzil
Total US births 517508
Most in one year 1656
Babies in 2025 1420
Estimated living today 300510
Median age today 129
Peak year 19212016
Best rank 2,059th boys2,966th girls
Rank in 2025 6,143rd5,917th
First recorded 19142004
Girls / boys 0 / 517508 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Yateses alive today are over 12; half the Yatzils are over 9. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Yates and Yatzil.