York
Masculine · “from York”
York is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 955 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
York is a city whose name is a chain of misunderstandings, each one made in good faith by people who did not speak the previous language. It has been used as a personal name in America since records began, and the record gives it almost entirely to sons.
How old is the name York?
York was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical York alive today was born around 1966, making them about 59 years old. About 600 people named York are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name York most popular?
York peaked in 1881, reaching #706 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A British name is recorded by the Romans as Eboracum to York
The story of York
The Romans wrote it Eboracum, from the British name they found there. When the Anglo-Saxons arrived they heard the first part as their own word eofor, a wild boar, and the second as wic, a settlement, and so wrote Eoforwic — a boar farm, which the place had never been. Then the Danes took the city, could not manage the Anglo-Saxon consonants, and reduced the whole thing to Jorvik. English then wore Jorvik down to York. So the modern name is a Norse simplification of an English misunderstanding of a Roman transcription of a British word, and not one letter of the original meaning survived the journey. The city is a monument to how place names actually travel: not by translation but by approximation, each generation confidently hearing something familiar in a sound it does not know.
Meaning
from York
The name is the place, and the place has one of the best-documented name histories in Britain — documented precisely because every stage of it survives in writing. What the original meant is less certain: the British name behind it is usually explained as a place of yew trees, though a personal name has also been proposed. What is certain is what happened to it afterwards, which is more interesting than the root.
How the name formed
- A British name is recorded by the Romans as Eboracum
- Anglo-Saxons hear a boar in it and write Eoforwic
- Danish settlers reduce the name to Jorvik
- English wears it down to York
- American parents use the place name for children of both sexes
Related forms: Eboracum · Jórvík · Eoforwic
Pronouncing York
york
One syllable, and there is no other way to say it. This is among the very few names on which no speaker of English has ever hesitated, which is worth something for a child who will spend their life explaining everything else about it.
Nicknames for York
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 196318 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #706reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- −20.0%8 in 2024, from 10
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.
York in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eboracum in Latin — related form
- Jórvík in Old Norse — related form
- Eoforwic in Old English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah.
Yorks among us
people named York are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
York sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, universally pronounceable, and impossible to misspell
- A real place with a documented two-thousand-year history behind the name
- Works for a son or a daughter, which the record confirms rather than merely allows
- It is a very well known place name, so the child will hear the New York joke regularly and for life.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- As a surname-shaped name it invites the usual confusion about which box it goes in on a form.
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What they receive
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York
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Yorks are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named York are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name York in 2025?
- York is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name York with classmates?
- York will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More Y names
The most-given names starting with Y, all years combined.
Yahir#814 · Yusuf#449 · Yosef#663 · Yehuda#740 · Yousef#744 · Yisroel#824 · Yaakov#1024 · Yitzchok#910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles York? See the current top 100.
Choosing between York and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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