Humanverse

Yer

Yer is a girl's name that peaked in 1988, when it was the 2,274th most popular in the United States. It is given to both boys and girls. It has not appeared in the national data since 2002. About 690 Yers are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 36.

Popularity, 1880–2025

Births per year, 1880 to 2025 0 13 25 38 50 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

girls named Yer boys named Yer

Girls and boys called Yer

Share of the name given to girls, 1880 to 2025 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

years more girls than boys years more boys than girls

Both, throughout, without either side ever taking it over: 572 girls and 142 boys in all, and in 1995 the split was 39 to 8.

The girls’ share of each year’s babies of the name, in the 15 years in which at least 25 babies got it. The line touches the middle more often than there are crossings marked: a year or two on the other side is not a name changing hands, and only a move that holds for 5 counted years and reaches 60/40 is recorded as one. All 581 names that changed sex.

By the numbers

Total US births
714
Estimated living today
690
Median age today
36
Peak year
1988
Best rank
2,274th
Rank in 2025
unranked
First recorded
1980
Girls / boys
572 / 142

How old the living Yers are

Born with the name each year, and how many of them are alive today, 1880 to 2025 0 15 30 45 60 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

born that year still alive today

Of the 714 babies given the name since 1980, about 690 are alive — 97 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1989 and half after.

An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.

Where Yer is most common

Relative to how many babies each state records, Yer is most concentrated in Minnesota (12.0×), California (6.4×), Wisconsin (6.4×).

Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.

Names of 1988

The most popular girls’ names the year Yer peaked:

All the names of 1988

Related names

Yer against another name

Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.

Compare Yer with a name of your own

Try it on yourself

Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.