Yahya
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Swahili Name Meaning "God's Gift."
- Origin
- African
About the Name Yahya
Yahya is a name often glossed as "God's gift," with strong roots in both the Arabic and Swahili worlds; in Arabic tradition it is the name corresponding to the prophet John, which gives it deep religious significance and a long, honored history. Its mirrored, two-syllable shape gives it a memorable, rhythmic sound, and its meaning lends it warmth and a sense of blessing. To bestow it is to mark a child as a gift gratefully received.
The name reads as both devout and distinctive, treasured across many cultures for its heritage and its gentle, flowing pronunciation. Its appeal lies in that blend of spiritual depth and a sound that travels easily across languages and borders, fitting comfortably into a multicultural naming landscape. Yahya feels rooted yet open, carrying real meaning while remaining warm, approachable, and a pleasure to say aloud, with a balance and symmetry rare among names.
As a boys' name, Yahya first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2015 and reached its peak in 2024 at #706, a clear sign that it is still firmly on the rise. Across its tracked years it accounted for 1,777 births among the top-1000. Its strength is that combination of meaningful heritage and an open, musical sound — a name that feels at once deeply rooted and freshly contemporary in American usage today.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Yahya
US Popularity History (2015–2025)
Annual US births named Yahya by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2025 with 455 boys named Yahya (boy rank #616 that year).
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Yahya Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Yahya the strongest states are Minnesota, New York, Michigan.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Minnesota | #309 | 193 |
| 2 | New York | #579 | 254 |
| 3 | Michigan | #583 | 126 |
| 4 | Illinois | #593 | 101 |
| 5 | New Jersey | #663 | 87 |
| 6 | Virginia | #666 | 94 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | #689 | 48 |
| 8 | Ohio | #723 | 104 |
| 9 | Washington | #728 | 63 |
| 10 | Pennsylvania | #746 | 58 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Carolina | #884 | 29 |
| 2 | Missouri | #875 | 18 |
| 3 | Texas | #868 | 124 |
| 4 | California | #825 | 128 |
| 5 | Maryland | #776 | 25 |
| 6 | Pennsylvania | #746 | 58 |
| 7 | Washington | #728 | 63 |
| 8 | Ohio | #723 | 104 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | #689 | 48 |
| 10 | Virginia | #666 | 94 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Yahya in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Yahya?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Yahya to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Yahya against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).