Yancy

Where Yancy comes from

The dictionaries list Yancy as a given name — a male given name transferred from the surname — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1886
    First appearance
    #959 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1959
    Peak, #686
    123 babies named Yancy — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1961
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,303.
  4. 1970
    Yancy Butler born
    American television and film actress
  5. 1989
    Yancy Gates born
    American basketball player
  6. 2025
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Yancy Butler · American television and film actress, born 1970
  • Yancy Gates · American basketball player, born 1989

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.