Yen

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Yan in CN China, HK Hong Kong, RU Russia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 21 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Yen is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name193K records spelled Yen23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Malaysia, Australia, United Kingdom

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Yến, Yên, Ýëň, Ÿen, Yèn

• a separate given name76K records spelled Yen19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Singapore

  Also written Yến, Yễn, Yêń, Ỹễn, Yện

• Chinese given name47K records spelled Yen6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Taiwan, Malaysia, United Kingdom

  Also written Yến, Yên, Yén

• Spanish given name25K records spelled Yen24 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Peru, Argentina, El Salvador

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Yến, Yën, Yên, Ÿęñ, Ÿęń

• a separate given name16K records spelled Yen5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, China

  Also written Yến, Yên, Yeṅ, Yé̂n

• Khmer given name3.7K records spelled Yen4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore

  Also written Yến, Yên, Yễn

• Thai given name2.5K records spelled Yen41 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Yael, Jewel, Yeli, Yale, เยล

61 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Yen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, The unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Anhelada, deseada

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In dag, ‘gonna’ : a form of the auxiliary verb ‘ye’

  as a word·Dagbani Dictionary CD

• In cdo, A shelter, a breastwork for archers or spearmen ； Yen to oppose, to fend off. COLL., ugieng i oi lo examine marks left by a thief ； ngieng^ ^md (siong, to bold an inquest and find no wounds (on the corpse). o 1.

  as a word·An Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect

• In cdo, overflowing, running out. VWtS^ A walled inclosnre, a Qyi- court -yard; a public es- tablishment ； an office, a monastery, a hospital ； a

  as a word·An Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 42 years between 1975–2022. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Zhang Yanb. 150CNnot in their usual namelate 2nd century Chinese leader of the Heishan bandits
• Xiang Yanb. 300not in their usual nameXiang Yu's grandfather
• Liao Yanb. 1644not in their usual nameQing dynasty person CBDB = 91118
• Michelle Simab. 1963GBnot in their usual nameChinese actress from Hong Kong
• Low Yen Lingb. 1974SGMember of the Parliament of Singapore
• Yao Yanb. 1974CNnot in their usual nameChinese badminton player
• Athena Lee Yenb. 1981TWTaiwanese actress
• Tao Xinb. 1988CNnot in their usual nameChinese Go player
• Lan Yanb. 1990CNnot in their usual nameChinese actress, pop singer, and model
• Hoàng Yến Chibib. 1995VNVietnamese singer and actress (born 1995)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 287 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Yen?

We estimate roughly 84 thousand people bear Yen (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Yen have the most bearers?

Yen is most frequently recorded in Vietnam, where it is most often spelled yen.

How common is Yen compared with other names?

In Vietnam, Yen is the 40th most common given name of 72,115 given names recorded there.

Is Yen a male or female name?

Yen is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Yen mean?

Recorded meaning: yen, the unit of Japanese currency (symbol: ¥) since 1871, divided into 100 sen