Izaya
Masculine · “Hebrew "Yahweh is salvation”
Isaiah, Joshua and Jesus all mean the same thing. All three are built on the Hebrew root yasha, to save, with the divine name attached — Yeshayahu, Yehoshua, Yeshua. Three of the most-used names in the West are one sentence said three ways.
How old is the name Izaya?
Izaya first appears in US birth records in 1996 — 29 years ago. The typical Izaya alive today was born around 2008, making them about 17 years old. About 1,100 people named Izaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Izaya most popular?
Izaya peaked in 2006, reaching #1724 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 5,955 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yeshayahu to Izaya
The story of Izaya
The root yasha runs through the Hebrew Bible's vocabulary of rescue — yeshuah, salvation; moshia, a deliverer — and it supplies a whole family of names. Isaiah is the prophet of the eighth century BC whose book, or the books gathered under his name, supplied more quotations to the New Testament than any other. Joshua is Moses' successor. Hosea is another eighth-century prophet. And Jesus is Joshua by way of Greek. English keeps them apart because it borrowed them at different times through different languages, which conceals a relationship that is entirely transparent in Hebrew. The Izaya spelling peaks in America in 2006.
Meaning
Hebrew "Yahweh is salvation"
From Yeshayahu, combining a form of yasha, to save or deliver, with Yah, the abbreviated divine name. Joshua is the same elements in the reverse order, and Jesus is the shortened Aramaic form of Joshua. Hosea is the same root without the divine element. Izaya is a modern American respelling of Isaiah with z and a simplified ending.
How the name formed
- Yeshayahu
- Isaiah
- Izaya
Related forms: Isaiah · Isaías · Ishaya
Pronouncing Izaya
eye-ZAY-uh
Three syllables, stress on the second. Hebrew Yeshayahu is four syllables with the stress near the end and a y at the front rather than a long i.
Nicknames for Izaya
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1996
- Most boys named
- 200681 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1724reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −47.4%10 in 2025, from 19
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Izaya in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Isaiah in English — spelling variant
- Isaías in Spanish — same name
- Ishaya in Arabic — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Izayas among us
people named Izaya are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was named Izaya
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Izaya
- #7679
- Izaya on the 2025 chart
- #53
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Izaya went to 10 boys in 2025, but Isaiah, Izaiah and Izayah are the same name said out loud. Together the 8 spellings went to 5,836, which makes it the 53rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,626 places above the chart.
and 4 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 293 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 170,808 for Izaya itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kourtney test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Izaya's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kourtney climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kourtney's path sketches the road Izaya is walking now.
Izaya sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Izaya beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Izaya in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and shared with two of the best-known names in the world.
- Zay and Izzy are current, usable short forms.
- It carries a major prophetic figure.
- Isaiah is the standard spelling and will be substituted constantly.
- The z respelling hides the biblical connection.
- Izayah and Izaiah are competing spellings.
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What they receive
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Izaya
Masculine · #7679 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Izayas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Izaya are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Izaya?
- Izaya is one of 4 recorded spellings. Isaiah is the more common one — 5,267 births in 2025 against 10 for Izaya.
- How popular is the name Izaya in 2025?
- Izaya ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Izaya?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Izaya — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Izaya with classmates?
- Izaya will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Izaya
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Izaya? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Izaya and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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