Yehya
An Arabic male name meaning "he will live" or "giver of life".
Name Census estimates that about 87 living Americans carry the first name Yehya. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yehya today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yehya births was 2016 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yehya. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yehya with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yehya. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
87
~ 1 in 3,939,705 Americans
Peak year
2016
8 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,819
Tracked since 1999
Census
Yehya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Yehya, which placed it at #36,840 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yehya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yehya is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) and Black (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yehya described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yehya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.0% · 184
- Two or more races7.9% · 17
- Black or African American4.2% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Yehya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yehya 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 51 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yehya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yehya 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 Yehya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Yehya
The name Yehya has its origins in the Arabic language. It is a variant of the name Yahya, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan or Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." This name has its roots in the ancient Middle Eastern cultures, particularly in the Judeo-Christian traditions.
Yahya is a prominent name mentioned in the Quran, where it refers to John the Baptist, a prophet in both Islam and Christianity. In the Quran, Yahya is described as a righteous man who was granted wisdom and compassion by God from a young age. This association with a significant religious figure has contributed to the popularity of the name among Muslims.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Yehya dates back to the 7th century CE. Yehya ibn Mu'adh al-Razi, a Persian scholar and poet born in 617 CE, is considered one of the earliest known individuals to bear this name. His works have significantly influenced the development of Arabic literature and poetry.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Yehya. One prominent example is Yehya ibn Masawayh, a Nestorian Christian physician and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE. He was highly influential in the field of medicine and is credited with translating and preserving many ancient Greek medical texts.
Another notable figure is Yehya al-Nawawi, a Sunni Muslim scholar and jurist born in 1233 CE in Nawa, Syria. He is renowned for his works on Islamic jurisprudence and hadith, and his book "Al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyyah" (The Forty Hadiths) is widely studied in the Islamic world.
In the realm of literature, Yehya Haqqi, an Egyptian novelist and playwright born in 1905, is celebrated for his contributions to modern Arabic literature. His works, including "The Lamp of Umm Hashim" and "The Saints' Lamp," explore themes of social injustice and the struggles of the common people.
Yehya Khan, a prominent Afghan military commander and politician from the 19th century, played a significant role in the Anglo-Afghan Wars. He led Afghan forces against the British invasion and is remembered for his resistance and defense of Afghan sovereignty.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Yehya throughout history. The name's rich cultural heritage and associations with religious figures, scholars, and historical personalities have contributed to its enduring popularity across various regions and communities.
People
Yehya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yehya 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
Yehya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yehya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 87 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yehya 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 3,939,705 US residents.
Is Yehya a common name?
We classify Yehya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 88 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yehya most popular?
The single biggest year for Yehya was 2016, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yehya is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yehya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Yehya, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yehya in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yehya?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yehya appears almost entirely male. Of the 217 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yehya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yehya is White at 86.0%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.9%) and Black (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yehya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Yehya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.0% (184 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Yehya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yehya a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yehya 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 Yehya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yehya 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 Yehya 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.
How many people have the name Yehya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.