Yaz
Yaz or YAZ may refer to a variety of topics in different fields. This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Yaz. In medicine, it may refer to Yaz (birth control), a brand-name combination oral contraceptive pill containing drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol. For details on this and other uses, see the sections below.People
As a nickname
Carl Yastrzemski (born August 22, 1939), an American former professional baseball player, is best known by the nickname "Yaz," a phonetic shortening of his surname that gained prominence during his tenure with the Boston Red Sox from 1961 to 1983.[1][2] He played primarily as a left fielder, earning induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, and was selected to 18 All-Star Games over his career.[1][3] In 1967, Yastrzemski achieved the American League Triple Crown by leading in batting average (.326), home runs (44), and runs batted in (121), a feat that solidified his legacy and popularized the "Yaz" moniker among fans and media in the 1960s.[2][3] Yastrzemski's grandson, Mike Yastrzemski (born August 23, 1990), carries forward the family tradition as an American Major League Baseball outfielder who played for the San Francisco Giants from 2019 until his trade to the Kansas City Royals on July 31, 2025, becoming a free agent after the 2025 season in which he batted .233 with 17 home runs and 46 runs batted in.[4][5][6] Adopted as "Yaz" in homage to his grandfather, the nickname reflects both familial lineage and Mike's own accomplishments, including a strong rookie season in 2019 where he posted a .273 batting average with 21 home runs.[4][5] The nickname "Yaz" originated in baseball contexts during the 1960s as a convenient shorthand for the challenging-to-pronounce surname Yastrzemski, particularly with Carl's rise to stardom, and has since become a hallmark of sports nomenclature for players with Polish heritage or similar long last names.[2][3]As a given name
Yaz is primarily a given name of Turkish origin, derived from the word "yaz," which means "summer."[7] In Turkish, it evokes imagery of warmth and renewal, and the name has been adopted as a unisex option in multicultural contexts, though it is more commonly used for girls.[8] Variants appear in Persian and Arabic linguistic traditions, where related roots can imply "to write" (as in the Turkish verb "yazmak") or "to increase" (echoing forms like the Arabic "yazīd").[8] These etymological layers reflect the name's ties to seasonal and expressive concepts across Turkic and Middle Eastern cultures.[9] In the United States, Yaz first appeared in Social Security Administration baby name records in 2016, given to 8 female infants that year, marking its emergence as a rare choice.[10] It has remained uncommon, with a total of approximately 35 U.S. births recorded through recent years, and no entry in the top 1,000 rankings.[10] The name is more prevalent in Turkish and Middle Eastern communities globally, where it aligns with cultural naming practices. As a first name, Yaz is borne by about 2,063 people worldwide, while its surname form occurs in roughly 1 in 937,184 individuals, predominantly in Asia.[7] Notable bearers include Yaz Canli, a Turkish-German actress, writer, and director known for her roles in television series and films such as My Home Unknown (2023).[11] Yaz Arima is a Canadian film producer who has worked as an associate producer on projects like Observer (2022) and the short film No Return (2016).[12] Similarly, Yaz Rabadi, a Canadian filmmaker and producer based in Toronto, has created works including the short films Karim (2007) and The Beard (2012), illustrating the name's use among creative professionals.[13]Arts and entertainment
Music
Yazoo, an influential English synth-pop duo also known as Yaz in North America owing to a trademark dispute with the American blues label Yazoo Records, was formed in late 1981 in Basildon, Essex.[14] The group consisted of synthesizer player Vince Clarke, who had recently departed from Depeche Mode after writing its debut album, and vocalist Alison Moyet, whose local newspaper advertisement for a musical partner Clarke answered.[15] Signed to Mute Records, Yazoo quickly established themselves with a distinctive sound blending Clarke's minimalist electronic arrangements and Moyet's soulful, powerful vocals.[16] The duo's debut album, Upstairs at Eric's (1982), peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and earned platinum certifications in both the UK (for 300,000 units) and the US (for one million units).[17][15] It showcased hits including "Don't Go" (UK number three), "Only You" (UK number two), and "Situation" (US Top 75), tracks that highlighted their fusion of pop hooks and synth-driven experimentation.[15] Their sophomore release, You and Me Both (1983), topped the UK charts and featured the single "Nobody's Diary" (UK number three), further cementing their commercial appeal with introspective lyrics and atmospheric production.[15] These albums, produced primarily by Clarke with input from engineer Eric Radcliffe, captured the early 1980s synth-pop zeitgeist while incorporating elements of soul and blues.[16] Yazoo disbanded in mid-1983 shortly before You and Me Both's release, driven by personal and creative tensions between Clarke and Moyet, though both members went on to successful careers—Clarke co-founding Erasure and Moyet launching a solo path with her 1984 album Alf.[15][16] The pair reunited in 2008 to mark the 25th anniversary of their formation, embarking on the Reconnected tour that spanned Europe and North America, performing their catalog to enthusiastic audiences and releasing a greatest hits compilation to accompany the shows.[18] A brief 2011 reunion followed, with live performances at Mute Records' Short Circuit festival in London.[15] Yazoo's concise discography, comprising two studio albums, several singles, and later compilations like In Your Room (2008), achieved multi-platinum status internationally and sold millions of copies worldwide, underscoring their role in shaping synth-pop's evolution into broader electronic genres.[15] Their work's enduring influence is evident in the frequent sampling of Moyet's vocals—such as her laugh in house tracks—and the continued licensing of songs like "Situation" for films and television, establishing them as pioneers of accessible yet innovative electronic music.[15]Fictional characters
Yaz Pistachio is a minor recurring character in the comic strip Bloom County, created by Berkeley Breathed and syndicated from 1980 to 1989.[19] Introduced in June 1983, she is depicted as Bobbi Harlow's sixteen-year-old niece, a shy and awkward teenager navigating social challenges in the strip's satirical world.[20] Her quirky name, Pistachio, contributes to the humor, as seen in a storyline where she challenges Opus the penguin to suggest a stupider one, prompting his self-deprecating reply of "Berkeley Breathed."[21] One of her primary storylines revolves around her junior prom, where Bobbi's ex-boyfriend Steve Dallas arranges a date for her with Opus, leading to a series of absurd mishaps including drunken antics, insults from the school quarterback, and failed attempts by Opus and friends to salvage the evening by spiking the punch.[20] This episode underscores Bloom County's blend of social satire and absurdity, positioning Yaz as a temporary love interest for Opus while highlighting themes of teenage awkwardness and mismatched pairings.[22] The prom arc spans multiple strips collected in Breathed's 1984 anthology Toons for Our Times. Though she featured in a few additional plots—some omitted from later collections—Yaz did not become a major fixture and her appearances tapered off by early 1984, exemplifying the strip's fluid ensemble of characters used to drive episodic humor.[19] Her role reflects Bloom County's satirical take on American pop culture and personal insecurities, with the character's odd name and predicaments serving as emblems of Breathed's whimsical style.[21]Medicine
Pharmaceuticals
Yaz is a brand name for a low-dose combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill manufactured by Bayer, containing 3 mg of drospirenone (a synthetic progestin) and 0.02 mg of ethinyl estradiol (a synthetic estrogen) in each active tablet.[23] The drospirenone component provides anti-androgenic activity, which helps mitigate androgen-related side effects such as acne and hirsutism that are more common with progestins like levonorgestrel found in older formulations.[24] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Yaz in March 2006 for the prevention of pregnancy; an additional approval in October 2006 extended its use for treatment of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) in women who choose oral contraception, and in January 2007 for moderate acne vulgaris in women at least 14 years old seeking contraception.[25][23] Yaz follows a 28-day regimen consisting of 24 light pink active tablets taken daily, followed by 4 white inert (placebo) tablets to maintain the routine and facilitate withdrawal bleeding.[23] When used perfectly (taken daily without missing doses), Yaz is more than 99% effective at preventing pregnancy, with clinical trials reporting a Pearl Index failure rate of 1.41 pregnancies per 100 woman-years.[23] For PMDD, it reduces emotional and physical symptoms by suppressing ovulation and stabilizing hormone levels; for acne, its anti-androgenic properties decrease sebum production and inflammation.[23][24] Common side effects of Yaz include nausea (affecting about 4.2% of users), breast tenderness (4.0%), headache or migraine (6.7%), mood changes (2.2%), and menstrual irregularities such as spotting (4.7%).[23] It carries a boxed warning for increased risks of serious cardiovascular events, including blood clots, stroke, and heart attack, particularly in women over 35 who smoke or have other risk factors; the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is higher with drospirenone-containing COCs compared to those with levonorgestrel.[23] Users should consult healthcare providers for personalized risk assessment, especially those with a history of thrombosis, hypertension, or migraines with aura.[23]Science and technology
Computing
In computing, YAZ (Yet Another Z39.50 toolkit) is an open-source C/C++ programmer's toolkit designed for developing clients and servers compliant with the Z39.50 protocol version 3 (Z39.50-2003), an international standard for bibliographic information retrieval over networks.[26][27] It also supports extensions such as SRU (Search/Retrieve via URL) versions 1.1 through 2.0 and SRW (Search/Retrieve Web service) over HTTP/HTTPS, enabling web-based access to structured data like library catalogs.[26][27] First released in 1995 by Index Data, a Danish software company specializing in library technologies, YAZ has been actively maintained for over three decades, evolving to include support for additional protocols like Apache Solr (client-side) and ISO ILL for interlibrary loans, with the latest stable release as version 5.35.1 in 2025.[26][28] Key features of YAZ include robust handling of MARC (Machine-Readable Cataloging) records in formats such as ISO 2709, MARCXML, and MarcXchange, with built-in parsing, encoding, decoding, and conversion utilities likeyaz-record-conv for transforming records between standards (e.g., USMARC to MARCXML).[27] It provides authentication mechanisms, including open-style, idPass (username/password or group/password), and OCLC-specific methods, configurable via the Z39.50 Initialize Request or command-line options in tools like yaz-illclient.[27] Cross-platform compatibility is a core strength, with support for Unix-like systems (e.g., Linux, macOS, FreeBSD), Windows (via Microsoft Visual C++ and as an NT service), and transports like TCP/IP, SSL, and Unix sockets through its COMSTACK module.[26][27] Language bindings extend its usability to PHP (PHP/YAZ), Perl (Net::Z3950), and Java (yaz4j, client-only).[26]
YAZ is widely integrated into library systems, notably powering the Z39.50 and SRU/SRW interfaces in Zebra, Index Data's high-performance indexing and retrieval engine for structured text data like MARC records.[29][27] This combination allows Zebra to serve as a backend for searchable databases in open-source and proprietary library management systems, facilitating tasks such as searching, scanning, sorting, and facet-based queries.[29] Licensed under a permissive model (Revised BSD for core components), YAZ is freely available for non-commercial and commercial use, making it a foundational tool for interoperability in digital libraries and information retrieval applications.[28][26]