Yahya means he lives. See it in Arabic, how to say it, where it is in the Quran and names like it.
Boy name · Arabic (in the Quran)
يَحْيَىٰ
Yahya
He lives
Browse all Islamic names and save the ones you like to a shortlist.
Meaning
Yahya (يَحْيَىٰ) is an Arabic name for boys, and a name in the Quran. It means he lives.
In Arabic, words are built from a root of usually three letters. Yahya comes from the root ح ي ي, and words from the same root share its core meaning. Similar names from the same family of words are listed below.
Allah chose the name Yahya Himself and says no one had it before (19:7).
يَٰزَكَرِيَّآ إِنَّا نُبَشِّرُكَ بِغُلَٰمٍ ٱسْمُهُۥ يَحْيَىٰ لَمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مِن قَبْلُ سَمِيًّۭا
Yaa Zakariyyaaa innaa nubashshiruka bighulaami nismuhoo Yahyaa lam naj'al lahoo min qablu samiyyaa
[He was told], "O Zechariah, indeed We give you good tidings of a boy whose name will be John. We have not assigned to any before [this] name."
Quran 19:7. Arabic: Uthmani text (Tanzil). English: Sahih International.
Say it YAH-yaa. The capital letters show the stressed part. In English it is also spelled Yahyaa and John. In Arabic it is written with 4 letters, from right to left: ي ya + ح ḥa + ي ya + ى alif maqsura.
Naming a child after a prophet is a sunnah. When his son was born, the Prophet ﷺ said: "A boy was born to me tonight, and I named him after my father, Ibrahim."2 Yahya keeps that tradition alive. With the father's name it becomes Yahya bin (and the father's name): see what bin, bint and abu mean.
Our teachers will check the Arabic spelling and meaning on this page before launch.
Questions
Yahya (يَحْيَىٰ) means he lives. It is an Arabic name for boys, and a name in the Quran.
Allah chose the name Yahya Himself and says no one had it before (19:7).
Yahya is used as a boy's name.
Yahya is written يَحْيَىٰ in Arabic, said YAH-yaa.
Both are English spellings of the same Arabic name, يَحْيَىٰ. Choose the one that is easiest to say where you live, and keep it the same on all documents.