Abiyah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my father".
Name Census estimates that about 37 living Americans carry the first name Abiyah. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 73.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Abiyah today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Abiyah births was 2022 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Abiyah. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Abiyah. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
37
~ 1 in 9,263,631 Americans
Peak year
2022
10 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,363
Tracked since 2004
Gender
Gender distribution for Abiyah
Abiyah is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 37 total registrations, 10 (27.0%) were male and 27 (73.0%) were female.
Abiyah as a male name
- Ranked #12,363 in 2022
- 5 male births in 2022
- Peak: 2014 (5 births)
Abiyah as a female name
- Ranked #15,193 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2016 (7 births)
Popularity
Abiyah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Abiyah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 20 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Abiyah 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 Abiyah 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 Abiyah
The name Abiyah is of Hebrew origin and has its roots in the ancient Semitic languages. It is a variant spelling of the biblical name Abijah, which means "my father is Yahweh" or "the Lord is my father." The name can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible, where it was the name of several individuals mentioned in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Abijah can be found in the Book of 1 Kings, where it refers to Abijah, the son of Jeroboam I, who was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. This Abijah lived in the 10th century BCE and reigned briefly as king after his father's death. The name also appears in the Book of 2 Chronicles, where it is mentioned as the name of a king of Judah who reigned from approximately 913 to 911 BCE.
In addition to its biblical references, the name Abiyah has been borne by several notable individuals throughout history. One of the earliest recorded was Abiyah ben Rav, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in the 9th century CE and was known for his contributions to the field of Hebrew grammar and linguistics.
Another notable figure named Abiyah was Abiyah ben Ephraim, a 12th-century Jewish philosopher and poet who lived in Spain. He was known for his work on the philosophy of religion and his poetic writings.
In the Islamic tradition, Abiyah was also the name of a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, known as Abiyah ibn Rafi' al-Qurazhi. He was a member of the Quraysh tribe and participated in the early battles of Islam.
In more recent times, Abiyah was the name of Abiyah Sita Rama Rau (1903-1967), an Indian writer and historian who wrote extensively on Indian culture and history. She was also active in the Indian independence movement and served as the first Indian woman to be appointed as a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Another notable figure named Abiyah was Abiyah Mukhtar (1901-1976), an Egyptian writer and journalist who played a significant role in the literary and cultural renaissance of Egypt in the early 20th century.
People
Abiyah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Abiyah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Abiyah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abiyah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Abiyah 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 9,263,631 US residents.
Is Abiyah a common name?
We classify Abiyah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Abiyah most popular?
The single biggest year for Abiyah was 2022, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Abiyah is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Abiyah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Abiyah a female name?
Yes, 73.0% of people registered as Abiyah in the SSA data are female. 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 Abiyah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Abiyah 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 Abiyah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Abiyah?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.