Yesha
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God's salvation".
Name Census estimates that about 106 living Americans carry the first name Yesha. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Yesha today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yesha births was 2002 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yesha. 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 Yesha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
106
~ 1 in 3,233,531 Americans
Peak year
2002
8 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2020 SSA rank
#17,424
Tracked since 1976
Census
Yesha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 390 people with the first name Yesha, which placed it at #24,620 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#24,620
National first-name rank
People counted
390
390 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
80.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Yesha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yesha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 80.8%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and White (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Yesha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Yesha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander80.8% · 315
- Black or African American10.0% · 39
- White3.3% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 5
- Two or more races1.3% · 5
Popularity
Yesha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yesha from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 35 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yesha 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 Yesha 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 Yesha
The given name Yesha finds its origins in the ancient Sanskrit language, with roots tracing back to the Indian subcontinent and the Vedic period, spanning from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "yash," which means glory, honor, or fame, and is often associated with concepts of renown and distinction.
Yesha has been recorded in various Hindu texts and ancient scriptures, including the Vedas and Puranas, which are among the oldest religious and literary works in the world. In these texts, the name is often used to refer to noble and virtuous individuals who achieved greatness through their deeds and moral conduct.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Yesha can be found in the Mahabharata, one of the two major ancient Sanskrit epics of India, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE. The epic features a character named Yesha, who was a renowned sage and teacher revered for his wisdom and knowledge.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Yesha. One of the most famous was Yesha Nanda (324 BCE - 321 BCE), the founder of the Nanda Empire, which ruled a large part of the Indian subcontinent during the 4th century BCE. He is renowned for his military prowess and for establishing one of the earliest organized empires in the region.
Another notable figure was Yesha Singha (1553 - 1619), a Rajput king who ruled over the kingdom of Marwar in present-day Rajasthan, India. He was known for his bravery, military strategies, and for expanding the territories under his control. Yesha Singha is remembered as one of the most influential rulers of the Marwar region.
In the field of literature, Yesha Acharya (1559 - 1623) was a prominent Sanskrit scholar and poet from the Indian state of Gujarat. He authored several works, including the acclaimed poetic composition "Kavitakalpalata," which is considered a masterpiece of Sanskrit literature.
Yesha Vaidya (1670 - 1750) was a renowned Ayurvedic practitioner and scholar from the Indian state of Maharashtra. He authored several treatises on Ayurvedic medicine and is credited with reviving and popularizing this ancient system of healthcare during his lifetime.
Lastly, Yesha Krishnamurthy (1908 - 1999) was a celebrated Indian musician and Carnatic vocalist. She was widely acclaimed for her mastery of the Carnatic music tradition and received numerous awards and accolades, including the prestigious Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors.
People
Yesha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yesha 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
Yesha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yesha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yesha 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 3,233,531 US residents.
Is Yesha a common name?
We classify Yesha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 109 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yesha most popular?
The single biggest year for Yesha was 2002, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yesha is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Yesha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 390 people with the name Yesha, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,620 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Yesha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Yesha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Yesha leans strongly female. 382 people counted with this name were female (99.0%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Yesha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Yesha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 80.8%. The next largest groups are Black (10.0%) and White (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Yesha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Yesha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.8% (315 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Yesha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yesha a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yesha 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 Yesha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yesha 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 Yesha 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.
How many people are named Yesha?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.