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Yahia

Masculine · “he lives”

2000high 2025
#2604 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare50 boys in 2025

Yahya is John the Baptist in Arabic — and the Qur'an says the name had never been given to anyone before him.

How old is the name Yahia?

Yahia first appears in US birth records in 2000 — 25 years ago. The typical Yahia is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Yahia are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Yahia most popular?

Yahia peaked in 2025, reaching #2604 nationally. Today it ranks #2604, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.

Compare this nameMore “Y” names

Yahia appears on this list:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Yahia

Sura 19 has God tell Zechariah that his son will be called Yahya, a name given to no one before him — a remark that has generated centuries of commentary, since the Hebrew Yochanan was in ordinary use. The name is standard across Muslim naming and Yahia is one spelling. It is in current American use.

Meaningscholars disagree

he lives; God is gracious

Two readings. As Arabic, from hayya, 'to live' — 'he lives'. As a rendering of the Hebrew Yochanan, 'the Lord is gracious', through Syriac. Sura 19 says no one had borne the name before. Both readings are current and the Qur'anic statement is explicit.

How the name formed

  1. Yochanan
  2. Yahya
  3. Yahia

Related forms: يحيى · Yahya · John

Pronouncing Yahia

YAH-hyah

Two syllables, stress on the first. Arabic gives the h a fuller breath.

Nicknames for Yahia

Moderate

YayaA reduplicated affectionate form, warm and used inside families
HiaThe back of the name, used inside families rather than generally
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 2000–2025502505020002025

US babies named Yahia per year from 2000 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#26042000s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
2000
Most boys named
202550 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#2604reached in 2025
Change vs 2024
+28.2%50 in 2025, from 39
Yahia sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2025, with 50 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Yahia in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • يحيى in Arabic — transliteration
  • Yahya in English — spelling variant
  • John in English — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.

Yahias among us

600

people named Yahia are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 34,162 born in 2025 was named Yahia

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Yahia

#2604
Yahia on the 2025 chart
#508
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Yahia went to 50 boys in 2025, but Yahya is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 505, which makes it the 508th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,096 places above the chart.

About 1 boy in 3,382 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,162 for Yahia 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

III

Is it right for you

The Davyn test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Yahia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Davyn climbed just as high around 2007, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Davyn's path sketches the road Yahia is walking now.

40%chance Yahia will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Yahia, aligned on its peakDavyn· peak 2007not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-20 yrs+20 yrsDavyn · #7920Yahia today
Yahia today is about where Davyn stood in 2007 — in its own peak year. By 2022, Davyn had settled around #7920.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Yahia 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

Where Yahia is headed

20002030

US babies named Yahia per year, 2000 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Yahia should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Steady0% by 2030projected around #2,720 in 2030

Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Yahia beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Yahia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Yahiathis name50#2604Hendrik50#2604Finlay50#2604Mazin50#2604Rowe50#2604

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That the Qur'an says the name was new is a first-rate puzzle.
  • John the Baptist is a first-rate bearer.
  • Yaya is a warm and widely used affectionate form.
What to consider
  • Yahya is the commoner transliteration.
  • The two readings are quite different.
  • It reads as specifically Muslim.

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Yahia

Masculine · #2604 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Yahias are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Yahia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Yahia?
Yahia is one of 2 recorded spellings. Yahya is the more common one — 455 births in 2025 against 50 for Yahia.
How popular is the name Yahia in 2025?
Yahia ranks #2604 among US boy names in 2025, with 50 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Yahia?
About 1 in every 34,162 US boys born in 2025 was named Yahia — 50 in all.
Will my child share the name Yahia with classmates?
Yahia will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Yahia

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Hendrik#2604 · Finlay#2604 · Mazin#2604 · Rowe#2604 · Dayvon#2604 · Larson#2604 · Kipton#2604 · Kamran#2604

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Yahia? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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