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Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: ArabicIn Israel: steady

YahyaIn Hebrew: יחיא · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: יַחְיַא

Yahya (Hebrew: יחיא) is a boy's name of Arabic origin. 5,124 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 179 boys and ranked #110. Its peak year was 2024, with 179 babies.

People in Israel
5,124
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
179
rank #110
Peak year
2024
179 babies
USA, 2025
455
rank #615

Writing and saying Yahya

In Hebrew letters the name is יחיא, read right to left. Yahya is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms.

We have no sourced English explanation of this name yet, so we do not guess one. The Hebrew page has our Hebrew notes when there are any.

Yahya 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).

Yahya: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Yahya in English-speaking countries

Yahya in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States2025455#6152025 (455)
United Kingdom2025652#892025 (652)
England and Wales2025625#812025 (625)
Scotland202527#1632025 (27)
Ireland20257#4532023 (9)
Alberta202524#1972024 (25)
Quebec202532#1752012 (43)

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

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Yahya

How do you write Yahya in Hebrew?

Yahya is written יחיא in Hebrew (with vowel points: יַחְיַא). Hebrew is read right to left.

How many people in Israel are named Yahya?

5,124 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name יחיא: 0 women and 5,124 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 Yahya a boy's or a girl's name?

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

Is Yahya used outside Israel?

The name Yahya appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 455 boys were given it in 2025 (#615), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 652 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.