Yuki
Feminine · “Snow”
Yuki is given to both — 1,067 girls and 567 boys since 1880. See Yuki as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Yuki is one of the most common Japanese given-name syllables and one of the hardest to pin down, because the sound is fixed and the characters are not. Written one way it is snow; written another it is happiness; written another it is a chronicle or a reason. The sound tells you nothing about which.
How old is the name Yuki?
Yuki first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Yuki alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,000 people named Yuki are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yuki most popular?
Yuki peaked in 2004, reaching #3444 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 1,794 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Where it comes from
From 雪 to Yuki
The story of Yuki
Yuki has been in ordinary Japanese use for centuries as a name element and as a full name, for women chiefly and for men in some writings; it also appears as the first half of Yukiko, Yukie and Yukari. It reaches American records with Japanese immigration from the late nineteenth century, and its presence in the data is continuous but small, with an interruption around the internment years of the 1940s. The peak in 2004 is modest and reflects both Japanese-American families and the much broader American familiarity with Japanese names that anime and manga produced from the 1990s onward.
Meaningscholars disagree
Snow, or happiness, depending on the characters
Japanese names are written in kanji, and the same reading serves many different characters. Yuki is commonly 雪, snow; 幸, happiness or good fortune; 由紀, reason and chronicle; and 有希, to have hope, among others. The meaning belongs to the writing, not to the sound, and a romanised Yuki in American records carries no information about which was intended.
How the name formed
- 雪
- Yuki
Related forms: ゆき · 雪 · 幸
Pronouncing Yuki
YOO-kee
Two syllables, both short and even. Japanese gives the syllables equal weight rather than stressing one, which English cannot easily reproduce; American speakers put the stress on the first.
Nicknames for Yuki
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 200443 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3444reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −22.6%24 in 2025, from 31
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.
Yuki in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- ゆき in Japanese — transliteration
- 雪 in Japanese — transliteration
- 幸 in Japanese — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Yukis among us
people named Yuki are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Yuki
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 Derry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yuki's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Derry climbed just as high around 1942, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Derry's path sketches the road Yuki is walking now.
Yuki 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
Yuki beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yuki in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables travel anywhere without difficulty.
- It is a genuine and ordinary Japanese name, not an approximation.
- Every English speaker can say it correctly on first hearing.
- The meaning depends entirely on characters that romanised spelling does not carry.
- It is used for men as well as women in Japan depending on the writing.
- Outside Japanese-American communities it will be read as exotic rather than ordinary.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Yuki to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Yuki
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yukis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Yuki are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yuki in 2025?
- Yuki ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yuki?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Yuki — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yuki with classmates?
- Yuki will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yuki
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yuki? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yuki 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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