Yves
Masculine · “Yew”
Yves is given to both — 1,202 boys and 59 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Yves is a yew tree, and the yew is what medieval Europe made bows from — which is why the Germanic element behind the name turns up in half the archery vocabulary of the period. French wore the word down to one syllable and three letters.
How old is the name Yves?
Yves first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Yves alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 1,100 people named Yves are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Yves most popular?
Yves peaked in 1981, reaching #1661 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 3,738 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From iwa to Yves
The story of Yves
Yves of Kermartin, a Breton parish priest and lawyer who died in 1303, became the patron saint of lawyers and of Brittany, and his feast on 19 May is a Breton national day. That made Yves an ordinary French and especially Breton name. It traveled with French colonization, and Haiti in particular uses it steadily. Its most visible modern bearer is Yves Saint Laurent, who took over Dior at twenty-one in 1957 and founded his own house in 1961. American records show Yves thinly through the twentieth century, peaking in 1981, chiefly in Haitian and Franco-American families.
Meaning
Yew, yew tree
From the Germanic element iv or iwa, a yew tree, which entered Old French as the name Ives and Yves. The reading is settled. The same element gives Ivo, Yvette and Yvonne, and the connection to archery is real: yew was the standard bow wood of medieval Europe and the tree carried associations of both weaponry and immortality.
How the name formed
- iwa
- Ives
- Yves
Related forms: Yves · Erwan · Ivo · Ivo · Ivo
Pronouncing Yves
EEV
One syllable, rhyming with sleeve. The Y is a vowel and the final s is silent, which is the single thing English readers most often get wrong; EYE-vez is a common misreading.
Nicknames for Yves
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 198537 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1661reached in 1981
- Change vs 2023
- +41.7%17 in 2025, from 12
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.
Yves in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yves in French — same name
- Erwan in Breton — related form
- Ivo in German — related form
- Ivo in English — related form
- Ivo in Czech — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Yvess among us
people named Yves are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Yves
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 Audra test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yves's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Audra climbed just as high around 1915, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Audra's path sketches the road Yves is walking now.
Yves 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
Yves beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Yves in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled, concrete and connects to a real medieval material.
- One syllable and four letters, about as compact as a name gets.
- It is unmistakably French without being long.
- English readers will not guess the pronunciation from the spelling.
- The final s is silent and will be sounded by nearly everyone.
- The fashion house is an overwhelming association.
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What they receive
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Yves
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Yvess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Yves are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Yves in 2025?
- Yves ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Yves?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Yves — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Yves with classmates?
- Yves will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Yves
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yves? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Yves and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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