Yahya
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Arabic. From Arabic يَحْيَى (yaḥyā), equivalent to John in the Qur'an.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Yahya (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Yahya has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2018. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 10 |
| 2004 | 8 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2006 | 6 |
| 2007 | 9 |
| 2008 | 10 |
| 2009 | 13 |
| 2010 | 22 |
| 2011 | 14 |
| 2012 | 26 |
| 2013 | 25 |
| 2014 | 25 |
| 2015 | 23 |
| 2016 | 28 |
| 2017 | 29 |
| 2018 | 36 |
| 2019 | 24 |
| 2020 | 24 |
| 2021 | 28 |
| 2022 | 26 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 113 |
| 2000 | 120 |
| 2001 | 129 |
| 2002 | 133 |
| 2003 | 141 |
| 2004 | 150 |
| 2005 | 151 |
| 2006 | 176 |
| 2007 | 206 |
| 2008 | 239 |
| 2009 | 280 |
| 2010 | 317 |
| 2011 | 355 |
| 2012 | 416 |
| 2013 | 469 |
| 2014 | 531 |
| 2015 | 607 |
| 2016 | 737 |
| 2017 | 812 |
| 2018 | 891 |
| 2019 | 936 |
| 2020 | 967 |
Yahya in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Yahya.Hi! My name is Yahya.
- Yahya bor i Umeå och jobbar som snickare.Yahya lives in Umeå and works as a carpenter.
- Yahya har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Yahya has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Yahyas mamma är lärare.Yahya's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Yahyas mamma is Yahya's mum.
More names
Questions about Yahya
How do you pronounce Yahya in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Yahya in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Yahya mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a male given name from Arabic. From Arabic يَحْيَى (yaḥyā), equivalent to John in the Qur'an.
How popular is Yahya in Sweden?
26 babies were named Yahya in 2022. In 2020, 967 people in Sweden had Yahya as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2018 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.