Yam
surname · Latin script
Meaning: Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/iam/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Yam is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Malaysia than in any other country.
- INIndia1 in 448K(measured from records)
- MYMalaysia≈1 in 8.9K
- SGSingapore≈1 in 11K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Malaysia (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 54 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 8.9K (inferred from the name graph)
≈3,700 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Malaysia, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated.
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Yam counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MY Malaysia | ≈3,700 est. | ≈1 in 8.9K | — | Yam | 17 |
| IN India | 2,960 | 1 in 448K | 3K | Yam | 46 |
| US United States | 1,808 | 1 in 184K | 1.9K | Yam | 54 |
| PK Pakistan | ≈1,500 est. | ≈1 in 155K | — | Yam | 12 |
| PH Philippines | ≈760 est. | ≈1 in 143K | — | Yam | 4 |
| SG Singapore | ≈550 est. | ≈1 in 11K | — | Yam | 5 |
| AU Australia | ≈390 est. | ≈1 in 65K | 1 | — | — |
| GA Gabon | ≈21 est. | ≈1 in 108K | 1 | — | — |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Instate — India surnames (clean spellings) from electoral rolls; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; Ministere de l'Interieur — 2025 candidate lists (local + legislative); SA BDM — Popular baby names South Australia (1944–present). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Yam 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 Akan, v. to grind (aburow, corn) on a large stone by means of a smaller one (s. owiyammo, -ba), - a work always performed by women; cf. dwow
as a wordDictionary of the Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (Chwee, Twi)
In enm, alternative form of þem (“them”)
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
ISO 639-3 language code for Yamba.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Dutch, yam, a tropical vine
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Azerbaijani, mail staging post
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
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.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Ren Bishib. 1904CNnot in their usual nameSecretary of the Chinese Communist Party (1904-1950)
- Yam Kim-faib. 1913HKHong Kong actress, Cantonese opera performer (1913-1989)
- 任新民b. 1915CNnot in their usual nameChinese scientist
- Ren Jianxinb. 1925CNnot in their usual nameChinese judge and politician
- Ren Zhengfeib. 1944CNnot in their usual nameChinese businessman
- Simon Yamb. 1955CNHong Kong actor
- Vivian Wing-Wah Yamb. 1963CNHong Kong chemist
- Richie Renb. 1966TWnot in their usual nameTaiwanese actor-singer
- Tong Huab. 1980CNnot in their usual nameChinese writer, novelist, and film & television planner
- Selina Jenb. 1981TWnot in their usual nameTaiwanese singer, actress and television host
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).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 48 sources across 27 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IN India | Instate — India surnames (clean spellings) from electoral rolls | — | 3K | #2,309 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 1.9K | #15,050 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 1.8K | #16,041 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 1.4K | #18,447 |
| IN India | Instate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls | — | 1.2K | #3,296 |
| GA Gabon | Ministere de l'Interieur — 2025 candidate lists (local + legislative) | 2025 | 1 | #94 |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 3
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Yam mean, and where does it come from?
- Any climbing vine of the genus Dioscorea in the Eastern and Western hemispheres, usually cultivated. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- How do you pronounce Yam?
- A machine transcription gives /iam/ (IPA) for Spanish.
- In which country does Yam have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 3.7 thousand people named Yam in Malaysia, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled yam.
- How common is the name Yam?
- In India, the national register counted 2,960 people named Yam, about 1 in 448 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Yam?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/yamThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Yam”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.