Given name & surname
Yahya
“God is gracious”
In Arabic use, Yahya carries the interpretation “God is gracious.”
Original Arabicيَحْيَىٰ
Meaning & origin
What it means
In Arabic use, Yahya carries the interpretation “God is gracious.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Arabic.
How it developed
Yahya is used as a form of John.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1972. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Yahya through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 4,582
- 4,576 boys · 6 girls
- Most popular year
- 2025
- 455 babies
- 2025
- 455
- #616 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +41%
- Rising
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 455 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 616 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 40.8% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. In 2025, New York had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (52). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 4,020 as a first name in 2020; 2,035 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Yahya’s family of names
In English usage, Yahya shares an earlier linguistic root with John. In Turkish usage, Yahya has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Juan. Yahya is a form of John.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Yahya has relatives in 8 languages. Lines run from its Arabic roots to each of them.
Arabicwhere Yahya comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 8
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 7
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Yahya
- Yahya SinwarPalestinian politician and Hamas leader (1962–2024)
- Yahya Jammeh2nd President of the Gambiaborn 1965
- Al-NawawiSunni Shafi'ite jurist and hadith scholar (1233–1277)
- Yahya Abdul-Mateen IIAmerican actorborn 1986
- Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-DinImam (1869–1948)
- Yahya GolmohammadiIranian association football player and managerborn 1971
- Yahya Al-ShehriSaudi Arabian footballerborn 1990
- John the Baptist in Islamson of Zechariah
- Yahya of AntiochMelkite Christian physician980–1066
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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