# Young (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/young/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /jʌŋ/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 2,764 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 2,234 / 530 (19% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 15, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

* 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.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 10 | 6,805 |
| 1985 | 15 | 5,074 |
| 1986 | 13 | 5,755 |
| 1987 | 12 | 6,331 |
| 1988 | 9 | 8,384 |
| 1989 | 11 | 7,444 |
| 1990 | 14 | 6,460 |
| 1991 | 18 | 5,397 |
| 1992 | 13 | 7,065 |
| 1993 | 15 | 6,260 |
| 1994 | 6 | 13,413 |
| 1995 | 8 | 10,503 |
| 1996 | 5 | 15,850 |
| 1997 | 8 | 10,818 |
| 1998 | 5 | 16,554 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 11 | 6,960 |
| 2005 | 11 | 7,086 |
| 2007 | 11 | 7,573 |
| 2008 | 9 | 9,001 |
| 2009 | 8 | 9,843 |
| 2010 | 6 | 12,178 |
| 2012 | 10 | 8,131 |
| 2013 | 8 | 9,633 |
| 2014 | 9 | 8,760 |
| 2015 | 12 | 7,052 |
| 2016 | 5 | 14,142 |
| 2017 | 6 | 12,203 |
| 2018 | 13 | 6,693 |
| 2021 | 8 | 9,681 |
| 2022 | 6 | 12,286 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 5 | 2,022 |
| 2000 | 4 | 2,501 |
| 2002 | 3 | 3,225 |
| 2003 | 3 | 3,467 |

## People named Young

- Young Kim, American politician
- John Young Brown, 19th-century American politician in Kentucky (1835-1904)
- Young John Allen, American missionary in China (1836-1907)
- George Newbern, American actor
- A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (1882-1974)
- Tim Hutchinson, American politician
- John Brown, American basketball player (born 1951)
- Corky Lee, American photographer (1947–2021)
- Hamilton Castner, American chemist (1858–1899)
- Myers Y. Cooper, American politician (1873-1958)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.