Fun Facts About the Name Yates
- 517 babies named Yates: U.S. records list 517 babies given the name Yates from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Yates Mean?
Yates is an English surname, now also used as a given name. It comes from Middle English yate, "gate," which developed from Old English geat. The name is formed with a final -s, a common pattern in English surnames. Literally it refers to "gates," but as a surname it was commonly a topographic name for someone who lived by a gate or gates, or an occupational name for a gatekeeper.
Yates Name History & Origins
Yates belongs to the large group of English surnames that grew out of ordinary medieval vocabulary. Yate was a Middle English form of "gate," found especially in northern and western England, and it survives in the related surname forms Yate, Yeates, and Yeats. A person called Yates might have been named for residence near a town gate, a field gate, or another notable gate, or for the work of keeping one.
The spelling Yates became an established English surname form. The related spelling Yeats is familiar from the Irish poet W. B. Yeats, but it is a variant of the same surname family rather than evidence for the given name's earlier use. As a given name, Yates is a transferred use of the surname rather than an inherited medieval personal name.
How Popular is the Name Yates?
Yates has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1921. Its best rank was #2,121 in 1923.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #6,434 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2024 | #5,866 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2023 | #8,887 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2022 | #7,740 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2021 | #8,800 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2020 | #6,277 | 14 | 0.0008% |
| 2019 | #7,149 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2018 | #7,114 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2017 | #6,661 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2016 | #5,779 | 16 | 0.0008% |
| 2015 | #9,529 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2014 | #8,755 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2013 | #8,087 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2011 | #6,986 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2010 | #8,116 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2009 | #14,441 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2007 | #12,311 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2006 | #13,968 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 2005 | #9,082 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2004 | #11,308 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2003 | #12,715 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2002 | #12,449 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2000 | #12,078 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1992 | #7,398 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1988 | #8,470 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1987 | #8,126 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1983 | #7,321 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #7,355 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1975 | #5,451 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1972 | #5,741 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1967 | #4,544 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1960 | #4,594 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1959 | #4,565 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1953 | #3,422 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1950 | #4,189 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1949 | #3,684 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1947 | #3,371 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1944 | #3,106 | 7 | 0.0005% |
| 1942 | #2,936 | 8 | 0.0006% |
| 1941 | #2,871 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1939 | #3,111 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1938 | #2,864 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1936 | #3,544 | 6 | 0.0006% |
| 1935 | #2,949 | 8 | 0.0008% |
| 1934 | #2,563 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1933 | #3,002 | 8 | 0.0008% |
| 1932 | #3,359 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1931 | #3,757 | 6 | 0.0006% |
| 1930 | #4,537 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1929 | #3,557 | 7 | 0.0007% |
| 1927 | #4,205 | 6 | 0.0005% |
| 1926 | #3,379 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1925 | #4,853 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1924 | #4,963 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1923 | #2,121 | 16 | 0.0015% |
| 1921 | #2,152 | 16 | 0.0015% |
| 1920 | #2,335 | 14 | 0.0013% |
| 1919 | #2,873 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1918 | #2,877 | 10 | 0.0010% |
| 1917 | #2,560 | 11 | 0.0012% |
| 1916 | #3,172 | 8 | 0.0009% |
| 1915 | #3,389 | 7 | 0.0008% |
| 1914 | #2,649 | 8 | 0.0012% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Yates Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have a strong need for freedom - physical, mental and spiritual. You hate bondage in any form. You have love of beauty and philosophy, and you desire achievement. You are willing to take spiritual matters on faith instead of subjecting them to mental analysis. You are inventive, intuitive and extremely methodical. Since your will is so strong, you are hard to convince. You also dislike advice. You love beauty and philosophy, and you desire achievement. You have a strong need for freedom - physical, mental and spiritual.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Yates's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Yates's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.