Yahya (name)

Yahya (يحيى), also spelled Yehya, is an Arabic male given name. It is an Arabic form of the given name John, originally Hebrew Yohanan (Yəhôḥānān יְהוֹחָנָן‎ "YHWH is gracious"), i.e. primarily John the Baptist, who is known as Yahya ibn Zakariyya in Islam, and is considered a prophet in Islam. For this reason, Yahya is a comparatively common name in the Muslim world. The related Biblical name of Jehiah (Yᵊḥîyâ יְחִיָּה "YHWH lives") has the Arabic form Yaḥiyyā يَحِيَّى. , having the same Arabic consonantal text as the name Yahya does.

Mononym

 * Yahya ibn Sarafyun (9th century), Arabic medical writer known in medieval Europe as Johannes Serapion
 * Yahya ibn Khalid (died 806), Vizier of the Persian Barmakids family
 * Yahya ibn Umar ibn Yahya ibn Husayn ibn Zayd ibn Ali Zayn al-Abidin ibn Al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Murtada, Alid imam
 * Yahya ibn al-Walid, was an Umayyad prince and son of Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I (r. 705–715).
 * Yahya ibn Yazid, was an Umayyad prince and son of Umayyad caliph Yazid II (r. 720–724).
 * Abu Yahya Ibn al-Batriq (fl. 796–806), translator of Greek scientific texts
 * Yahya ibn Asad, Samanid ruler of Shash (819–855) and Samarkand (851/852–855)
 * Yahya ibn Muhammad (aka Yahya I), Idrisid ruler (848–864)
 * Yahya ibn Yahya (died 874), sixth Idrisid ruler and sultan of Morocco
 * Yahya of Antioch (Yahya ibn Sa'ïd), 11th-century Syrian chronicler
 * Yahya (Zaragoza) (fl. 1021–1029), full name Yahya ibn al-Mundhir, 11th century ruler of Zaragoza
 * Yahya bin Ahmad Sirhindi, 15th century Persian language writer from the Delhi Sultanate of India
 * Sultan Yahya (1585–1649), son of Sultan Mehmed III, a Christian convert and a claimant to the Ottoman throne
 * Yahya bey Dukagjini (1498–1582), Ottoman diwan poet

Given name

 * Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (born 1986), American actor
 * Yahya Al-Shehri (born 1990), Saudi footballer
 * Yahya Ayyash (1966–1996), member and chief bombmaker of Hamas
 * Yahya Black (born 2002), American football player
 * Yahya El Hindi (born 1998), Lebanese footballer
 * Yahya Goba, Yemeni-American terrorist suspect arrested and charged as part of the War on Terror together with the other members of the "Lackawanna Six"
 * Yahya Golmohammadi (born 1971), Iranian footballer
 * Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din (1869–1948), imam of the Zaydis (1904) and king of Yemen (1926)
 * Yahya Hassan (born 1995), Palestinian-Danish poet and politician
 * Yahya Jammeh (born 1965), president of The Gambia
 * Yahya Khan (1917–1980), former Chief Martial Law Administrator of Pakistan and Chief of Army Staff
 * Yahya Mahmassani (born 1935), Lebanese diplomat
 * Yahya Rahim Safavi (born 1958), commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)
 * Mirza Yahya Nuri Subh-i Azal (1831–1912), Persian religious leader of Azali Bábism
 * Yahya Petra of Kelantan (1917–1979), sixth Yang di-Pertuan Agong (roughly equivalent to King) of Malaysia
 * Yahya ibn Muhammad (829-864), fifth Idrisid ruler of Morocco
 * Yahya ibn Yahya, sixth Idrisid ruler Morocco
 * Yahya ibn al-Qasim, eighth Idrisid ruler of Morocco
 * Yahya ibn Idris ibn Umar, ninth Idrisid ruler of Morocco
 * Yahya ibn Ibrahim, one of the founder of the Almoravid dynasty
 * Yahya ibn Umar al-Lamtuni, chieftain of Lamtuna and the first emir of the Almoravid
 * Makhdoom Yahya Maneri, Sufi of Maner of the order Suharwardiyah and Khanqah at Maner Sharif.

Surname

 * Umm Hakim bint Yahya, wife of caliph Hisham.
 * Adel Yahya (born 1982), English Islamist
 * Ahmad bin Yahya (1891–1962), Yemeni imam
 * Ali Yahya (1947–2014), Israeli Arab diplomat
 * Izz al-Din Yahya, 14th-century ruler of Satgaon, Bengal
 * Tahir Yahya (1956–2007), Iraqi politician
 * Abu Yahya ibn Abd al-Haqq, Marinid emir at Fez
 * Yaghmurasen Ibn Zyan, also called Abu Yahya I, the first sultan of the Zayyanid dynasty at Tlemcen
 * Abu Hafs Umar bin Yahya, Hafsid caliph of Ifriqiya
 * Abu Yahya Abu Bakr ash-Shahid, Hafsid caliph of Ifriqiya and a martyr
 * Abu Zakariya Yahya, founder and the first sultan of the Hafsid dynasty in Ifriqiya