Y: vowel, consonant, or a bit of both?
Y is the letter that cannot decide. It is a consonant at the start of "yes" and a vowel at the end of "happy". The Romans borrowed it from Greek, where it was upsilon, so the French still call it "i grec", the Greek i. Names that open with Y have that same double life, and they often feel sunny and surprising.
The yew trio
Three French names that start with Y all mean yew: Yves, Yvonne and Yvette. They begin with the vowel sound "ee", as in "ee-VON". The yew is a long-lived evergreen with a long history of symbolism in Europe, which may explain the name's staying power.
Sunny Y sounds from around the world
The consonant Y opens many names with a bright "yuh". Hebrew gives Yael (mountain goat), Yarden (to descend, after the Jordan River) and Yosef. Japanese names bring Yuki (snow), Yumi and Yuto. Russian gives Yuri and Yelena, Turkish gives Yildiz (star), and Chinese gives Yue (moon) and Ying. The Indian Yash means fame, and Yamini means night.
Y names worth a closer look
- Yael
A Hebrew name for a mountain goat, short and graceful and easy to say in many languages.
- Yildiz
A Turkish name for a star, with a gentle sound.
- Yves
A short French boy name with an unusual, elegant simplicity.
- Yue
A Chinese name for the moon, tiny and lyrical.
- Yarden
A Hebrew name inspired by a river, used for any child.
Famous people whose first names start with Y
- Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist, born in Paris to Chinese parents and raised in the United States
- Yoko Ono, the Japanese artist and musician
- Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, in 1961
- Yayoi Kusama, the Japanese artist known for polka dots and infinity rooms
- Yaa Gyasi, the Ghanaian American novelist of Homegoing
- Yves Saint Laurent, the French fashion designer
- Yuja Wang, the Chinese pianist
Questions about Y names
How do you pronounce Yvonne?
It sounds like "ee-VON".
Is Yuki used for boys and girls?
Yes. In Japan Yuki is used for any gender, and it means snow or happiness, depending on the characters used.