Yahya (name)

For other uses, see Yahya.
Yahya
GenderMale (given name) Unisex (surname)
Origin
Word/nameArabic
Meaning(Hebrew loan): Yahweh is gracious
Region of originArabia
Other names
Related namesJehiah, Yohanan, John, Evan, Giovanni, Hans, Hovhannes, Ian, Ioan, Ioane, Ioannis, Ivan, Iven, Ifan, Jack, Jackson, Jan, Jane, Janez, Jean, Jhon, Joan, João, Johan, Johannes, Jonne, Jovan, Juan, Juhani, Seán, Shane, Siôn, Yohannes

Yahya (Arabic: يحيى, romanized: Yaḥyā), also spelled Yehia, is an Arabic male given name. Originally unrelated, it was already used as an Arabic equivalent of the Hebrew given name Yohanan (Hebrew: יְהוֹחָנָן‎, romanized: Yəhoḥānān, lit. 'Yahweh is gracious'), or John, by pre-Islamic Arabian Jews.[1] In the Qur'an, Yahya also appears as the Arabic equivalent of the given name of the prophet John the Baptist in Islam,[a], and for this reason, Yahya is now a comparatively common name in the Muslim world.

The related Biblical name of Jehiah (Hebrew: יְחִיָּה, romanized: Yəḥiyā, lit. 'Yahweh lives') has the Arabic form Yaḥiyyā (Arabic: يَحِيَّى).,[2] with the exact Arabic consonantal text as the name Yahya.

  1. ^ The other Arabic form of the given name John is Yūḥannā يوحنا, which is the form directly derived from the original name, Hebrew: יְהוֹחָנָן‎. Both translated and transliterated names similarly coexisted amongst Hellenistic Jews such as the Greek name Σίμων Símōn, being used for the Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן Šimʻôn, as well as the Greek transliteration Συμεών Symeṓn. A notable example using the Arabic transliterated form of John is the Arab Christian John of Damascus' name, Yūḥana al-Dimashqī.

Mononym

Given name

Surname

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]: "The name yaḥyā, for example, is not a direct port of yōḥānān or any of its derivatives, but is rather a pre-existing Arabic name—attested in Safaitic as yḥyy (C 614) and yḥyy (RWQ 115)—that was equated with John. Indeed, this equation was employed by Arabian Jews as well. The Jewish Nabataean funerary inscription JSNab 386 (dated 306 CE), from al-ʿUlā, was set up by a man named yḥyy bn šmʿwn, where yḥyy substitutes for the common Hebrew name ywḥnn (= yōḥānān).⁷¹ The two names derive from different roots, which demonstrates that phonetic proximity, rather than etymology, was the main driving force connecting them."
  2. ^ Van Dyck Bible: 1 Chronicles 15:24
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