Yedidya
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "beloved of the Lord".
Name Census estimates that about 143 living Americans carry the first name Yedidya. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yedidya today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yedidya births was 2019 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yedidya. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Yedidya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
143
~ 1 in 2,396,883 Americans
Peak year
2019
11 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,250
Tracked since 1985
Popularity
Yedidya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yedidya from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Yedidya remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yedidya 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 Yedidya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yedidyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yedidya
The name Yedidya originates from the Hebrew language and culture. It is a biblical name that first appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, where it is presented as one of the names given to King Solomon. The name is derived from the Hebrew words "yadid" meaning "beloved" and "Yah" which is a shortened form of the name of God, Yahweh or Jehovah.
In the Bible, the name Yedidya is mentioned in 2 Samuel 12:25, where it states that God sent the prophet Nathan to give the child this name, which means "beloved of the Lord." This name was given to Solomon after the death of his older brother, who was born from David's union with Bathsheba.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Yedidya is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts dating back to the third century BCE. The name appears in the Book of Enoch, an important non-canonical Jewish work from the intertestamental period.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yedidya. One of the most famous was Yedidya Salomon Norzi (1560-1626), a renowned Italian Hebrew scholar and grammarian who made significant contributions to the study of the Masorah, the tradition of preserving the accurate transmission of the Hebrew Bible text.
Another prominent figure was Yedidya Frenkel (1889-1981), a Polish-born Israeli jurist and judge who served as the Attorney General of Israel from 1952 to 1960. He played a crucial role in shaping the country's legal system in its formative years.
In the realm of Hasidic Judaism, Yedidya Tiah Levi (1798-1856) was a renowned Hasidic rabbi and leader of the Seredna Hasidic dynasty in Ukraine. He was known for his teachings on Jewish mysticism and his influence on the Hasidic movement.
Yedidya Frenkel-Navon (1919-2004) was an Israeli writer, educator, and politician who served as the fourth President of Israel from 1978 to 1983. He was a prominent figure in the Labor Party and played a significant role in the country's cultural and political landscape.
Lastly, Yedidya Goldberg (born 1940) is a contemporary Israeli author and poet who has written extensively on Jewish themes and Zionism. His works have been widely acclaimed and have contributed to the preservation and exploration of Jewish culture and identity.
People
Yedidya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yedidya as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yedidya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yedidya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yedidya 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 2,396,883 US residents.
Is Yedidya a common name?
We classify Yedidya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 145 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yedidya most popular?
The single biggest year for Yedidya was 2019, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yedidya is about 13 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 Yedidya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yedidya a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yedidya 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.
Is Yedidya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yedidya 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 Yedidya 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 Yedidya?
See how many people share the name Yedidya on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.