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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: AramaicIn Israel: steady

AkivaIn Hebrew: עקיבא · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: עֲקִיבָאRomanization: akíva, ʿăqīḇā

Akiva (Hebrew: עקיבא) is a boy's name of Aramaic origin. 3,361 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 135 boys and ranked #138. Its peak year was 2024, with 135 babies.

People in Israel
3,361
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
135
rank #138
Peak year
2024
135 babies
USA, 2025
121
rank #1,466

Writing and saying Akiva

In Hebrew letters the name is עקיבא, read right to left. Akiva is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "akíva, ʿăqīḇā" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • a male given name, Akiva
  • Rabbi Akiva ben Joseph, a major figure in Jewish history, a tanna of the late first century and early second century who contributed to the Mishnah and Midrash Halakha
From Aramaic עֲקִיבָא (ʿăqīḇā).

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Akiva by year: Israel and abroad

How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).

Akiva: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Akiva in English-speaking countries

Akiva in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States2025121#1,4662020 (145)
United Kingdom202513#1,9652023 (15)
England and Wales202513#1,8952023 (15)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Akiva has every year and the other spellings.

Questions about Akiva

How do you write Akiva in Hebrew?

Akiva is written עקיבא in Hebrew (with vowel points: עֲקִיבָא). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "akíva, ʿăqīḇā".

How many people in Israel are named Akiva?

3,361 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name עקיבא: 0 women and 3,361 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.

Is Akiva a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named עקיבא are men.

What does the name Akiva mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, Akiva" Etymology: From Aramaic עֲקִיבָא (ʿăqīḇā).

Is Akiva used outside Israel?

The name Akiva appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 121 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,466), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 13 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).

Sources

Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.

Abroad

Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.