Isayah
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Salvation of God".
Name Census estimates that about 772 living Americans carry the first name Isayah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Isayah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Isayah births was 2007 (46 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Isayah. 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.
People living today
772
~ 1 in 443,982 Americans
Peak year
2007
46 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,410
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Isayah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Isayah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 372 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Isayah 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 Isayah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Isayahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Isayah, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 28 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Isayah
The name Isayah is derived from the Hebrew name Isaiah, which means "Yahweh is salvation." The name has its roots in ancient Israelite culture and can be traced back to the biblical prophet Isaiah, who lived in the 8th century BCE. In the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible, the prophet delivers messages of hope and redemption, reflecting the meaning of his name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Isayah can be found in the biblical text itself. The prophet Isaiah ben Amoz is a prominent figure in the Old Testament, and his writings are considered among the most influential and poetic in the Hebrew Bible. His prophecies about the coming of the Messiah and the redemption of Israel have been widely studied and interpreted throughout history.
In the Middle Ages, the name Isayah was used among Jewish communities, particularly in the Sephardic tradition. During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity in Europe, likely due to the influence of the biblical text and the study of Hebrew languages and scriptures during that time.
Several notable historical figures have borne the name Isayah or its variations. One of the earliest examples is Isayah ben Mali al-Israili, a Jewish philosopher and scholar who lived in the 9th century CE in what is now Iraq. He was known for his work on philosophy, logic, and mathematics.
Another prominent figure was Isayah ben Abraham Halevi Horwitz, a renowned rabbi and Talmudic scholar who lived in the 16th century in Poland. He was the author of the influential work "Shenei Luchot HaBerit," which was a comprehensive commentary on Jewish law.
In the 17th century, Isayah ben Abraham ben David Trani was a prominent Italian rabbi and scholar. He was known for his expertise in Talmudic law and his extensive writings on various aspects of Jewish tradition.
During the 19th century, Isayah Berlin was a notable Russian-born Jewish philosopher and historian. He was born in 1909 and is renowned for his work on political theory, liberalism, and the concept of value pluralism.
In more recent times, Isayah Thomas was an American basketball player who played for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA from 1981 to 1994. He was a 12-time NBA All-Star and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.
People
Isayah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Isayah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Isayah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Isayah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 772 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Isayah 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 443,982 US residents.
Is Isayah a common name?
We classify Isayah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 781 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Isayah most popular?
The single biggest year for Isayah was 2007, when 46 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Isayah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Isayah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Isayah in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.