Akiva or Akiba is a Jewish-ethnic name, arising in Aramaic from , and thus cognate to English Jacob.
Among Jews, "Ya'akov" and "Akiva" – though essentially variants of the same name – are treated as completely separate, arousing different historical and religious associations: the one recalls the Biblical Patriarch Jacob, the other relates to the Roman period Rabbi Akiva.
Akiva Rabbi Akiva (c. 50 – c. 135 AD), Judean religious leader Akiva Ehrenfeld (1923–2012), president of Kiryat Mattersdorf, Jerusalem Akiva Eiger (1761–1837), Polish Talmudic scholar and rabbi Akiva Eldar (born 1945), Israeli journalist and author Akiva Frankfurt (died 1597), German poet and rabbi Akiva Goldsman (born 1962), American writer Akiva Govrin (1902–1980), Israeli politician Akiva Grunblatt (fl. 2000s), American religious leader Akiva ha-Kohen (died 1496), Hungarian scholar and rabbi Akiva Baer ben Joseph (died 1724), Viennese Talmudist and kabbalistic writer Akiva Librecht (1876–1958), Israeli politician Akiva Nof (born 1936), Israeli politician & songwriter Akiva Orr (born 1931), Israeli writer & political activist Akiva Schaffer (born 1977), American writer & comedian Akiva Yosef Schlesinger (1838–1922), Hungarian Orthodox Jewish rabbi Akiva Tatz (fl. c. 2000), a South African religious leader & writer Akiva Tor, Israeli diplomat and politician Akiva (singer) (born 1991), Israeli singer Akiva Aryeh Weiss (1868–1947), Zionist activist, architect, and city planner Akiva Vroman (1912–1989), Israeli geologist Akiva Weingarten (born 1984), German-American liberal rabbi Akiva Yaglom (1921–2007), Soviet & Russian scientist
Akiba
Akiba Eisenberg (1908–1983), Hungarian rabbi Akiba Lehren (1795–1876), Dutch banker Akiba ben Judah Loeb (18th century), German rabbi Akiba Rubinstein (1882–1961), Polish-Jewish chess Grandmaster
Fictional characters
Akiva Shtisel, main character in the television series Shtisel Akiva, a seraph and main character on the American fantasy novel Daughter of Smoke and Bone