Yatzil
Feminine
Yatzil belongs to a group of names that Mexican families have taken up since the 1990s and that are widely described as Mayan — Yaretzi, Yatziri, Itzel, Yatzil. Some of that group are genuinely Maya and some are not, and separating them is the honest work this name requires. Its American peak is 2016.
How old is the name Yatzil?
Yatzil first appears in US birth records in 2004 — 21 years ago. The typical Yatzil is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Yatzil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yatzil most popular?
Yatzil peaked in 2016, reaching #2966 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 2,951 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yatziri to Yatzil
Our story of Yatzil
Mexican naming since about 1990 has drawn deliberately on indigenous sound — a real and meaningful shift, and one worth taking seriously rather than dismissing. What complicates it is that the demand for such names has outrun the supply of documented ones, and a workshop grew up to fill the gap. The result is a family in which genuine words sit beside invented ones that sound the same: Itzel and Xochitl are real, Yaretzi and Yatzil are not traceable, and all four are used by families making the same choice for the same reasons. The distinction matters and does not diminish the choice. A parent picking Yatzil is reaching for a Mexican identity that is not Spanish, and that intention is entirely legible whether or not any Maya dictionary contains the word. What is not defensible is a translation nobody can source, and this page will not supply one.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Not established. Yatzil is commonly glossed as 'love' or 'beloved' and attributed to Yucatec Maya, but the ordinary Yucatec word for love is yaakunaj, and the claimed form cannot be traced to a dictionary. By contrast Itzel, in the same naming family, is genuinely Maya. The honest position is that Yatzil is a modern Mexican name of the Yatz- family whose Maya attribution is asserted rather than demonstrated.
How the name formed
- Yatziri
- Yatzil
Related forms: Yatziri · Yaretzi
Pronouncing Yatzil
yaht-SEEL
Two syllables, stress at the end, with the tz said as a ts cluster and the y as in yes. English speakers frequently front-stress it and turn the tz into a z, which is the main difficulty.
Nicknames for Yatzil
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2004
- Most girls named
- 201656 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2966reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- −28.6%20 in 2025, from 28
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.
Yatzil in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yatziri in Spanish — related form
- Yaretzi in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Yatzils among us
people named Yatzil are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Yatzil
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Whisper test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yatzil's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Whisper climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Whisper's path sketches the road Yatzil is walking now.
Yatzil 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
Yatzil beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yatzil in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Yatzi is an easy short form shared with a whole family of names.
- The spelling is phonetic in Spanish and produces no ambiguity there.
- It is distinctive without being unrecognizable to anyone who knows Itzel or Yaretzi.
- The Maya attribution circulated online is not documented.
- The tz cluster is routinely flattened to a z by English speakers.
- It is rare in the United States and will be spelled out routinely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Yatzil to the vote.
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What they receive
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Yatzil
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yatzils are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Yatzil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yatzil in 2025?
- Yatzil ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yatzil?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Yatzil — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yatzil with classmates?
- Yatzil will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yatzil
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yatzil? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yatzil and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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