Yelitza
Feminine
Yelitza belongs to the Venezuelan and Colombian workshop that produced Yelitza, Yaritza, Maritza and Danitza — the -itza ending joined to a Ye- or Ya- front. Its American peak is 2023, which is very recent and reflects Venezuelan migration rather than any older community.
How old is the name Yelitza?
Yelitza first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Yelitza alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,200 people named Yelitza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yelitza most popular?
Yelitza peaked in 2023, reaching #2269 nationally. Today it ranks #6116, 3,847 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yaritza to Yelitza
Our story of Yelitza
The Ye- front is a Venezuelan and Colombian speciality and it has an identifiable cause. Spanish j is said as an h, which means English names beginning with J cannot be spelled with a J and read correctly. The solution adopted across northern South America was to write Y instead: Jason became Yeison, Johnny became Yoni, Jennifer became Yenifer. That produced a large stock of Ye- names in ordinary use, and once the front was familiar it detached and became productive on its own — Yelitza, Yelena, Yesenia, Yelitsa, none of which needs an English source. So the front began as a phonetic fix for a specific spelling problem and ended as a naming element in its own right, which is a very short journey for a piece of orthography to make.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No documented meaning. The -itza ending is a Latin American orthographic convention rather than a suffix with content; it exists to write a ts sound that Spanish spelling otherwise handles badly, and it appears on names of quite different origins — Danitza from Slavic Danica, Maritza from Maria, Yaritza with no source at all. The Ye- front carries nothing. Any translation offered for Yelitza online is unattributable.
How the name formed
- Yaritza
- Yelitza
Related forms: Yelitsa · Yaritza
Pronouncing Yelitza
yeh-LEET-sah
Three syllables, stress in the middle, with the tz said as a ts cluster and the y as in yes. English speakers routinely flatten the tz to a z, which is the main difficulty the name presents.
Nicknames for Yelitza
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 202381 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2269reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- −44.1%19 in 2025, from 34
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.
Yelitza in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yelitsa in Spanish — spelling variant
- Yaritza in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Yelitzas among us
people named Yelitza are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 84,593 born in 2025 was named Yelitza
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 Nekisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yelitza's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nekisha climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nekisha's path sketches the road Yelitza is walking now.
Yelitza 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
Yelitza beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yelitza in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Yeli is an easy short form shared with a whole family of names.
- The spelling is phonetic in Spanish and produces no ambiguity there.
- It sits in a recognizable family, so it is placed instantly by anyone who knows Yaritza.
- The tz cluster is regularly flattened by English speakers.
- There is no documented meaning to give when asked.
- Yelitza and Yelitsa both circulate, so records will drift.
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What they receive
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Yelitza
Feminine · #6116 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yelitzas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Yelitza are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yelitza in 2025?
- Yelitza ranks #6116 among US girl names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yelitza?
- About 1 in every 84,593 US girls born in 2025 was named Yelitza — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yelitza with classmates?
- Yelitza will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yelitza
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alvina#6116 · Mena#6116 · Harvey#6116 · Kellie#6116 · Alden#6116 · Jeanna#6116 · Sammi#6116 · Mamie#6116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yelitza? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yelitza and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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