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Yana

Feminine · “God is gracious”

1955high 2024
#2387 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare75 girls in 2025

Yana is a Slavic feminine of Ivan — John — so the Hebrew behind it says God is gracious.

How old is the name Yana?

Yana first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Yana alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 2,600 people named Yana are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Yana most popular?

Yana peaked in 1956, reaching #1738 nationally. Today it ranks #2387, 649 places below that high. See the whole 1956 chart.

Compare this nameMore “Y” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Yana

Yochanan gave Greek Ioannes and then John, Ivan, Jan and their feminines across Europe — the most productive name family on the continent. Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian use Yana. A separate Sanskrit yana names a vehicle, as in Mahayana. It appears in American records in current use.

Meaning

God is gracious

From the Slavic Yana, feminine of Yan or Ivan, from the Greek Ioannes and the Hebrew Yochanan, 'the Lord is gracious'. A separate Hebrew Yana and a Sanskrit yana, 'vehicle' or 'path', exist. The Slavic route is the commoner. The chain is documented.

How the name formed

  1. Yochanan
  2. Ivan
  3. Yana

Related forms: Яна · Yana · Jana

Pronouncing Yana

YAH-nah

Two syllables, stress on the first. Said much the same across Slavic languages.

Nicknames for Yana

Moderate

YanochkaThe Russian double diminutive, warm and used inside families
AnaA near relation, and one of the most-used names in Europe
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1955–20251065301067519552025

US babies named Yana per year from 1955 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#17381950s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1955
Most girls named
2024106 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1738reached in 1956
Change vs 2024
−29.2%75 in 2025, from 106
Yana sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2024, with 106 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

Yana in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Яна in Bulgarian — transliteration
  • Yana in Ukrainian — same name
  • Jana in English — spelling variant

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.

Yanas among us

2,600

people named Yana are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 21,430 born in 2025 was named Yana

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Yana

#2387
Yana on the 2025 chart
#869
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Yana went to 75 girls in 2025, but Yanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 91, which makes it the 869th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,518 places above the chart.

About 1 girl in 17,662 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 21,430 for Yana itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Wilmina test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yana's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wilmina climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wilmina's path sketches the road Yana is walking now.

40%chance Yana will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Yana, aligned on its peakWilmina· peak 1915not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak0 yrs+70 yrsWilmina · #4497Yana today
Yana today is about where Wilmina stood in 1984 — 69 years past a #1738-sized peak. Within 15 years, Wilmina had drifted out of the mainstream charts.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Yana sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Yana is headed

19552030

US babies named Yana per year, 1955 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Yana should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady+13% by 2030projected around #2,285 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Yana beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Yana in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Yanathis name75#2387Maiya75#2387Rena75#2387Eviana75#2387Dora75#2387

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • It belongs to the most productive name family in European history.
  • The God-is-gracious meaning is transparent and undisputed.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • Jana and Yana are both in circulation.
  • The Sanskrit word of the same spelling is unrelated.
  • It reads as specifically Slavic.

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Yana

Feminine · #2387 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Yanas are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Yana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Yana?
Yana is the most-used spelling in US records — 75 of the 91 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Yanna.
How popular is the name Yana in 2025?
Yana ranks #2387 among US girl names in 2025, with 75 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Yana?
About 1 in every 21,430 US girls born in 2025 was named Yana — 75 in all.
Will my child share the name Yana with classmates?
Yana will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Yana

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Maiya#2387 · Rena#2387 · Eviana#2387 · Dora#2387 · Shannon#2387 · Mariyah#2387 · Jeanette#2387 · Suzanne#2387

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yana? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Yana and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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