Fun Facts About the Name Yasha
- 276 babies named Yasha: U.S. records list 276 babies given the name Yasha from 1880 through 2025. Even 58 boys received the name Yasha - about 1 boy for every 4 girls.
What Does the Name Yasha Mean?
Yasha is best known as a Russian and Yiddish pet form of Yakov (Jacob), a name that goes back to Hebrew Yaʿaqov. Genesis explains that name from ʿaqev, "heel," so it is literally understood as "he grasps the heel" and customarily translated as "supplanter." Scholars have also suggested that Yaʿaqov is a shortened form of a longer name meaning "may God protect," so the precise derivation is not settled. Because Yasha is a diminutive rather than an independent root, it carries the meaning of the parent name rather than a meaning of its own.
Separately, Yasha is used in South Asia as a name connected with Sanskrit yaśas, "fame, glory, splendor." In that use it belongs with the male name Yash and forms such as Yashwant and Yashoda, and it is given to both boys and girls in modern Indian naming.
Yasha Name History & Origins
Yasha is one of a group of Russian pet forms made with the ending -sha: Masha from Maria, Dasha from Daria, Pasha from Pavel, Sasha from Aleksandr, and Misha from Mikhail. Yasha follows the same pattern from Yakov. The form became common enough to stand on its own as a given name, not only as a nickname, and it was current among Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian speakers as well as among Yiddish-speaking Jews in Eastern Europe, where it existed alongside the older Yiddish diminutive Yankl.
When Jews left the Russian Empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the name traveled with them to the United States, Western Europe, and later Israel. Some bearers kept Yasha, while others took Jacob, Jack, or similar forms in their new countries.
In literature, Yasha is the young manservant in Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard (1904) and the title character, Yasha Mazur, in Isaac Bashevis Singer's novel The Magician of Lublin (1960). Both uses draw on the name's ordinary place in Russian and Yiddish speech.
The similar-sounding Japanese word yasha (夜叉), a Buddhist term for a yaksha, comes from Sanskrit yakṣa and is unrelated to the personal name.
How Popular is the Name Yasha?
Yasha has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1977. Its best rank was #5,209 in 1977.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #14,870 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 2024 | #12,071 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2017 | #15,820 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2012 | #19,429 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2010 | #14,896 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2009 | #17,214 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2008 | #15,347 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2005 | #16,395 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2003 | #11,297 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2002 | #9,459 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2000 | #10,727 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1999 | #9,461 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1997 | #16,103 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1993 | #11,767 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1992 | #10,454 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1991 | #10,255 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 1990 | #9,231 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1989 | #8,742 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 1988 | #13,853 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1987 | #11,298 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1986 | #12,811 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1984 | #12,156 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1983 | #12,044 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #10,500 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1980 | #5,906 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 1979 | #9,004 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1977 | #5,209 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 1974 | #8,756 | 6 | 0.0004% |
| 1971 | #7,380 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1970 | #9,340 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | #14,111 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2021 | #13,997 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2018 | #12,083 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2011 | #12,230 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2004 | #8,900 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2003 | #12,711 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1998 | #9,606 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1995 | #10,300 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1988 | #6,411 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1983 | #7,320 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Yasha Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You have a strong need for freedom - physical, mental and spiritual. You hate bondage in any form. You have love of beauty and philosophy, and you desire achievement. You are willing to take spiritual matters on faith instead of subjecting them to mental analysis. You are inventive, intuitive and extremely methodical. Since your will is so strong, you are hard to convince. You also dislike advice. You love beauty and philosophy, and you desire achievement. You have a strong need for freedom - physical, mental and spiritual.
You desire to inspire and lead, to control other's affairs. You are giving, courageous and bold, action oriented,energetic and strong willed. You want to make a difference in the world, and this attitude often attracts you to cultural interests, politics, social issues, and the cultivation of your creative talents.
✦ Yasha's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Yasha's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.