Yifan
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Peking University. She is the second-highest-rated female player of all time. A chess prodigy, she was the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of grandmaster and the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship.
Meaning & Origin of Yifan
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Hou Yifan is a Chinese chess grandmaster, four-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Peking University. She is the second-highest-rated female player of all time. A chess prodigy, she was the youngest female player ever to qualify for the title of grandmaster and the youngest ever to win the Women's World Chess Championship.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Read more →
The Story of Yifan
As a girl name
Yifan first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a girl name in 2011, with 5 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 2011: 5 births, good for #16,763 nationwide. Yifan last appeared in the published SSA data in 2016, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 10 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
As a boy name
American parents first put Yifan on the record books as a boy name in 2010, with 5 registered babies. Its peak popularity came in 2017, when 16 Yifans were born — ranking #5,525 that year. About 86% of every Yifan on record arrived during the 2010s, its defining decade. Yifan last appeared in the published SSA data in 2023, with 8 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 97 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 2010s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Names that sound like Yifan
Phonetically similar names — useful when Yifan is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Yifan
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About the name Yifan
Yifan is a unisex baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 2010 and has accumulated 97 births in the dataset. Yifan's peak popularity came in 2017 when it ranked #5,525. Use the chart and map above to compare Yifan's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 2017 →
- Names of the 2010s →
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- Top names of 2026 →
- Browse unisex names →
Data sources
- Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
- Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
- Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
- Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
- Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .
Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.