Fun Facts About the Name Yusei
- 54 babies named Yusei: U.S. records list 54 babies given the name Yusei from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Yusei Mean?
Yusei is a Japanese given name, usually written with two kanji. Because Japanese personal names are assembled from characters chosen by parents, Yusei has no single fixed meaning: the sense of the name follows from the characters used, and several spellings share the same reading. The reading is normally split as yū plus sei.
Common first elements include 優 (yū, "tender, excellent"), 悠 (yū, "distant, unhurried"), 勇 (yū, "brave"), 裕 (yū, "abundant"), 由 (yū, "reason, origin") and 結 (yū, "to tie"). Common second elements include 星 (sei, "star"), 成 (sei, "to become, accomplish"), 誠 (sei, "sincerity"), 正 (sei, "correct, upright"), 聖 (sei, "holy"), 清 (sei, "pure") and 征 (sei, "to subdue"). Written 優星 the name suggests something like "gentle star," and written 勇誠 something like "brave sincerity," but these are combinations of character meanings rather than a fixed dictionary definition.
The same sounds also exist as ordinary words. 遊星 yūsei is the older astronomical term for a planet, literally a "wandering star," and 優生 yūsei means "eugenics." These are homophones rather than the source of the name; a name written 遊星 simply echoes the astronomical word.
Yusei Name History & Origins
Yusei fits a broad pattern in Japanese naming: a two-kanji masculine given name read with the Chinese-derived on readings of both characters. Names whose first element is read yū (Yūki, Yūta, Yūto) and names whose second element is read sei (Kōsei, Taisei, Ryūsei) use the same two building blocks. The readings yū for characters such as 優, 悠, 勇 and 裕, and sei for 星, 成, 誠 and 正, are standard in Japanese name usage, which is why so many unrelated spellings of Yusei exist.
The compound 遊星, "planet," goes back to pre-modern astronomy, in which the planets were the "wandering stars" as opposed to the fixed stars. That gives the spelling 遊星 a learned, literary flavor; the characters are more familiar as the word for "planet" than as an everyday name spelling. A well-known modern use is the fictional Yusei Fudo, written 不動遊星, the main character of the anime Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, which began airing in 2008. The character's name plays on the "planet" reading rather than reflecting ordinary naming practice.
In English the name is usually spelled Yusei; Japanese romanization sometimes marks the long first vowel as Yūsei or Yuusei. It is not related to the Arabic and Turkish Yūsuf/Yusuf, despite the similar opening sounds.
How Popular is the Name Yusei?
Yusei 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 2019. Its best rank was #8,864 in 2019.
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 | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | #8,864 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2016 | #9,636 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2014 | #12,073 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2012 | #9,690 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2011 | #10,768 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2009 | #14,468 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2008 | #12,515 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2007 | #14,344 | 5 | 0.0002% |
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 Yusei 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.
✦ Yusei's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Yusei's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.