How common is the surname Yale?

2,402 people in the United States had the surname Yale in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 128,537 Americans. It ranked 12,830th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Yale?

In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Yale identified as white (not Hispanic), and 4.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Yale?

Linus Yale, American mechanical engineer (1821–1868), followed by William H. Yale.

Where is the surname Yale most common?

Wikidata records people named Yale in the United States.

Is the surname Yale getting more or less common?

More common. 2,345 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,402 in 2010, up 2.4%.

The surname Yale

A Welsh place surname, carried by 2,402 people in the United States.

Pronounced /jeɪl/ 1 syllable Soundex Y400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Yale is more common than 92.1% of them.

Origin

Welsh origin

Ultimately borrowed from Welsh Iâl, from iâl (“clearing, cultivated upland”). The surname is habitational. The university is named for Elihu Yale, a notable early benefactor.

Yale is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 60 Welsh surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 2,402 people named Yale in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 128,537 Americans. That is up 2.4% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,345.

#12,830

rank among US surnames

2,402

people in 2010

0.8

per 100,000 Americans

+2.4%

change since 2000 (was #12,181)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#12,821	Brugger	2,405	128,377
#12,825	Grays	2,404	128,430
#12,827	Tercero	2,403	128,483
#12,830	Yale	2,402	128,537
#12,831	Loe	2,401	128,590
#12,833	Vinci	2,400	128,644
#12,835	Digirolamo	2,399	128,698

Who is named Yale

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

92% of people named Yale identified as white (not Hispanic), 4.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.6% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 92%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 4.0%
Two or more races 1.6%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.4%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Yales

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Linus Yale
American mechanical engineer (1821–1868)
William H. Yale
American politician (1831–1917)
Caroline Yale
American specialized educator (1848–1933)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Yale

Yule

Yale has the Soundex code Y400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code Y400.

Other Welsh surnames

All 60 Welsh surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Yale come from?: Ultimately borrowed from Welsh Iâl, from iâl (“clearing, cultivated upland”). The surname is habitational. The university is named for Elihu Yale, a notable early benefactor.
How common is the surname Yale?: 2,402 people in the United States had the surname Yale in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 128,537 Americans. It ranked 12,830th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Yale?: In the 2010 Census, 92% of people named Yale identified as white (not Hispanic), and 4.0% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Yale?: Linus Yale, American mechanical engineer (1821–1868), followed by William H. Yale.
Where is the surname Yale most common?: Wikidata records people named Yale in the United States.
How do you pronounce Yale?: Yale is /jeɪl/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Yale?: Yale is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Yale getting more or less common?: More common. 2,345 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,402 in 2010, up 2.4%.