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Yahya

#616 in 2025Boys' name

Possibly Yahweh is gracious, through يَحْيَى

Yahya has been given to 4,582 babies in the U.S. since 1972. In 2025 it ranked #616 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 455 recorded.

Babies named Yahya, 2025

1 in 7,290

Yahya over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Yahya: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly Yahweh is gracious, through يَحْيَى

Arabic

What Yahya means

Yahya belongs to the name family reached through Yahya → يَحْيَى. Its meaning is “Yahweh is gracious”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Arabic يَحْيَى (yaḥyā), equivalent to John in the Qur'an.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Yahya (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Yahya is used in English and Turkish. Its origins include Arabic.

Yahya comes through Arabic يَحْيَى.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include يَحْيَى.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Turkish, Yahya is pronounced /jahˈjaː/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,576 boys were recorded with the name Yahya between 1972 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 455 in 2025; its best national rank was #616 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,006 in 2020 to #616 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #982 in 2015 to #616 in 2025.

In the United States, 6 girls were recorded with the name Yahya between 2011 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2011; its best national rank was #16,656 in 2011.

How common is Yahya?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 7,290
455 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 3,750
0.03% of boys
Rank, 2025
#616
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
5,051 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Yahya sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1001%
School of 5007%

Put another way: gather 5,051 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Yahya. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Yahyas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Yahya was born before 2017 — so the typical Yahya is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
40.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,576
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 40.1% of all recorded uses (1,834).

Is Yahya rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+91
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+390
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+366
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.16×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (455)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#616
2025

Spellings of Yahya

Yahya is not the most common spelling — Yahir is, with 52.3% against Yahya's 19.3%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Yahya is used

Across 2016–2025, Yahya was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 1,176 boys, against 1 in 5,888 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

285 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 1,176
  2. 2Michigan1 in 2,941
  3. 3New York1 in 3,030
  4. 4Virginia1 in 3,333
  5. 5Illinois1 in 3,448
  6. 6New Jersey1 in 4,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 4,167
  8. 8Washington1 in 4,545

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Yahya is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 97% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Yahya around the world

Where Yahya ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #81
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1996–2025
    #163
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2024–2024
    #339
    in 2024
  • Ireland
    2006–2025
    #468
    in 2025
  • France
    1962–2025
    #229
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #210
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #272
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1998–2012
    #514
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Yahya

People whose public names include Yahya, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Yahya by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#616
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 390
Best rank ever
#616
2025
Peak year
2025
455 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,576
Count in 2025
455

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#16,656
2011
Peak year
2011
6 that year
First recorded
2011
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Yahya

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

YahirYahelYahiaYahyeYahmirYahsirYahshuaYahwehAdithyaYehyaYahariYahzirLakshyaAgasthyaYahzielYahliYahmariYahriYahkiYahnisSathyaYahavYahveYahyo

Names with a curve like Yahya

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Yahya, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

GatlinZahirBenicioZamirAyanZaydAdlerKyrenAlistairAriesBodenKylen

Sibling names for Yahya

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Yahya

Top names of 2025, Yahya's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with YArabic Boy Names