Yahshua
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is salvation" or "Yahweh saves".
Name Census estimates that about 328 living Americans carry the first name Yahshua. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yahshua today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yahshua births was 2016 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yahshua. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
328
~ 1 in 1,044,983 Americans
Peak year
2016
24 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,793
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Yahshua: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yahshua from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 161 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yahshua remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yahshua by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Yahshua during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yahshuas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yahshua
The name Yahshua is a Hebrew name derived from the Hebrew words "Yahweh" (meaning "the Lord" or "the Eternal One") and "Yeshua" (meaning "salvation" or "deliverer"). It is the original Hebrew name for the central figure in Christianity, known as Jesus Christ in English.
The name Yahshua first appeared in ancient Hebrew texts, including the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and other ancient Jewish writings. It was the name used by the Jewish people to refer to the Messiah they were expecting, based on their understanding of the prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Yahshua can be found in the Book of Ezra, believed to have been written around the 5th century BCE. In Ezra 3:2, the name "Yahshua" is mentioned as the name of the high priest who led the Jews in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem after their return from Babylonian captivity.
In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, written in Greek, the name Yahshua is transliterated as "Iesous," which eventually became "Jesus" in English. The earliest manuscript evidence for the name Iesous dates back to the 2nd century CE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Yahshua or a variation of the name. One of the most famous is Yahshua ben Sira, also known as Jesus ben Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, a Jewish scholar and author who lived in the 2nd century BCE. His book, the Wisdom of Ben Sira, is included in the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books of the Bible.
Another notable figure is Yahshua ben Ananias, a Jewish prophet mentioned by the historian Josephus in his work "The Jewish War." He is said to have walked through the streets of Jerusalem in the years leading up to the Jewish revolt against Rome, warning of the impending destruction of the city.
In the 4th century CE, there was a Christian monk named Yahshua the Stylite, also known as St. Simeon Stylites, who lived atop a pillar for almost 40 years as an act of devotion and penance.
During the Byzantine Empire, there was a military leader named Yahshua the Conqueror, also known as Joshua the Conqueror, who led the Byzantine forces in the 7th century CE and played a significant role in the defense of Constantinople against the Avars and Slavs.
In the 16th century, there was a Spanish mystic and writer named Yahshua ben Joseph, also known as Juan de la Cruz or St. John of the Cross, who was a major figure in the Catholic Reformation and is revered as a Doctor of the Church.
People
Yahshua + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yahshua as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yahshua: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yahshua?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yahshua going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,044,983 US residents.
Is Yahshua a common name?
We classify Yahshua as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 331 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yahshua most popular?
The single biggest year for Yahshua was 2016, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yahshua is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Yahshua in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yahshua a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yahshua in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Yahshua still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yahshua in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Yahshua can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Yahshua?
You can see how many people share the name Yahshua on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.