Hebrew name

Hebrew names are names of Hebrew language origin. They are mostly used by people living in Jewish or Christian worlds, but some are also adapted to the Islamic world, particularly if a Hebrew name is mentioned in the Qur’an. A typical Hebrew name can have many different forms, having been adapted to the phonologies of many different languages.

Not all Hebrew names are strictly Hebrew in origin; some names have been borrowed from other languages since ancient times, including from Egyptian, Aramaic, Persian, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Spanish and German.

Names of Hebrew Origin

Most Hebrew names used by Jews (along with many Hebrew names used in Christendom) come from the Jewish Tanakh, also known as the Christian Old Testament.

Many of these names are thought to have been adapted from Hebrew phrases and expressions, bestowing special meaning or the unique circumstances of birth to the one who receives that name. An example of a name with a special personal meaning is יהודה Yəhûdhāh. An example a name indicating circumstances of birth is ראובן Rə’ûbhēn, which means "Look, a son."

Hebrew devotion to Elohim (God) is often indicated by adding the suffix אל -’ēl/-ā’ēl, forming names such as מיכאל Mîkhā’ēl and גבריאל Gabhrî’ēl/Ghabhrî’ēl.

Hebrew devotion to Yahweh (Jehovah) is often indicated by adding an abbreviated form of the Tetragrammaton יהוה as a suffix; the most common abbreviations used by Jews are יה -yāh/-iyyāh and יהו -yāhû/-iyyāhû, forming names such as ישׁעיהו Yəša‘ăyāhû, צדקיהו Ṣidhqiyyāhû and שׂריה Śərāyāh. Most of Christendom uses the shorter suffix preferred in translations of the Bible to European languages, primarily Greek -ιας -ias and English -iah, producing names such as Τωβιας Tōbias and Jeremiah.

In addition to devotion to Elohim and Yahweh, names could also be sentences of praise in their own right. The name טוביהו Ṭôbhiyyāhû means "God is good."

Names of Aramaic Origin

At the end of the First Temple Period, the Kingdom of Judah was destroyed, and its inhabitants were taken into captivity in Babylon. While they were there, the Jews ceased to speak Hebrew as their daily language, and adopted Aramaic instead. Judæo-Aramaic was the vernacular language at the time of Jesus Christ, and was also the language used to write parts of the Book of Daniel, the Book of Ezra, and the entire Jewish Talmud. Aramaic remained the lingua franca of the Middle East until the time of Islam.

Judæo-Aramaic names include אבד־נגו ’Ăbhēdh-nəghô, בר־תלמי Bar-Talmay/Bhar-Talmay, תום Tôm/Thôm, and מתי Mattay.

Hebræo-Greek Names

Many of the names in the New Testament are of Hebrew and Aramaic origin, but have been adapted to the Greek by Hellenistic Christian writers such as Paul of Tarsus. Later, the Tanakh was also translated to Greek, also with many Hellenized names, and was united with the New Testament to produce the first Septuagint. Such Hebræo-Greek names include Ιησους Iēsous (originally from ישׁוע Yēšûª‘), Νωη Nōē (originally from נח Nōªḥ), and Ισαιας Isaias (originally from ישׁעיהו Yəša‘ăyāhû).

Also, some Jews of the time had Greek Gentile names themselves, such as the Christian Apostle Luke (Greek Λουκας). Though used by some Jews at the time, these names are generally not associated with Jews today, and are considered characteristically Greek and largely confined to use by Christians and Muslims. Hebrew forms of the names exist, but they are extremely rare.

Hebræo-Latin Names

Many Hebrew names were adapted into Latin, but mostly through Greek, as Greek was the language of the first Christian Septuagint. Such names include Jesus (from Greek Ιησους Iēsous) and Maria (from Greek Μαριαμ Mariam, originally from Hebrew מרים Miryām).

Also, some Jews during Roman times also had Latin Gentile names for themselves, such as the Christian Apostle Mark (Latin Marcus). As was the case with contemporary Jewish names of Greek origin, most of these Latin names are generally not associated with Jews today, and today retain a Roman and Christian character.

Hebræo-Arabic Names

With the rise of Islam and the establishment of an Arab Caliphate, the Arabic language became the lingua franca of the Middle East and North Africa. Islamic scripture such as the Qur’an however contains many names of Hebrew origin, and there were Jewish and Christian minorities living under Arab Islamic rule. As such, many Hebrew names had been adapted to Arabic, and could be found in the Arab world. Even Jews and Christians usually had these Arabized names.

Such Hebræo-Arabic names include Ayyūb (from Hebrew איוב ’Iyyôbh), Yūsuf (from Hebrew יוסף Yôsēph), and Daūd (from Hebrew דוד Dāwidh).

Hebræo-English Names

Under the reign of James I of the United Kingdom, he commissioned a translation of the Tanakh from Hebrew to English, which became the Old Testament component of the new King James Version of the Bible (or "KJV" Bible). The promotion of the KJV translation spawned a whole new variety of Hebrew names that were considerably closer to the Hebrew language than their Latin counterparts.

Even so, many KJV Old Testament names were not entirely without New Testament Greek influence. This influence mostly reflected the vowels of names, leaving most of the consonants largely intact, only modestly filtered to consonants of contemporary English phonology. However, all KJV names followed the Greek convention of not distinguishing between soft and dāghesh forms of ב bêth, ג gîmel and ד dāleth, as well as merging ג gîmel and ע ġáyin. These habits resulted in multilingually-fused Hebræo-Helleno-English names, such Judah, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Additionally, a handful of names were adapted directly from Greek without even partial translations from Hebrew, including names such as Isaac, Moses and Jesse.

Finally, some names were not translated or adapted at all, but were harvested from names that had already existed in the English language since the Dark Ages, including quintessentially English names such as John, Mary and James, which today bear little resemblance to their original Hebrew forms.

Along with names from the KJV edition of the New Testament, these names constitute the large part of Hebrew names as they exist in the English-speaking world.

List of Hebrew Names

(The voicings shown are Sephardic-Israeli Hebrew and Classical Hebrew. Please expand and/or correct this list if you can.)

אברהם Avraham or ’Abhrāhām. "Father of many". Masculine. See also Abraham.
אדם Adam or ’Ādhām. "Dust; man." Masculine. See also Adam.
אלישׁבע Elishéva or ’Ĕlîšébha‘. "God is my oath." Feminine. See also Elisabeth.
אסנת Ásnat or ’Āsənath. Feminine. See also Asenath.
אפרים Efráyim or ’Ephrāyim/’Ephráyim. Masculine. See also Ephraim.
אשׁר Asher or ’Āšēr. Masculine. See also Asher.
בנימין Binyamin/Vinyamin or Binyāmîn/Bhinyāmîn. "Son of my right hand." Masculine. See also Benjamin.
ברוך Baruch/Varuch or Bārûkh/Bhārûkh. "Blessed". Masculine.
גד Gad or Gādh/Ghādh. Masculine. See also Gad.
דבורה Dvora or Dəbhôrāh/Dhəbhôrāh. "Honeybee." Feminine. See also Deborah.
דוד David or Dāwidh/Dhāwidh. "Beloved." Masculine. See also David.
דן Dan or Dān/Dhān. Masculine. See also Dan.
הבל Hável/Hével or Hābhel/Hébhel. "Breath." Masculine. See also Abel.
זבולן Zvúlun or Zəbhûlun. Masculine. See also Zebulun.
חיים Chaim or Ḥayyîm. "Life." Masculine.
Chaya. "Life". Feminine.
יהודה Yehuda or Yəhûdhāh. "Praise." Masculine. See also Judah.
יוסף Yosef or Yôsēph. Masculine. See also Joseph.
יעקב Ya'akov or Ya‘ăqōbh. "Holder of the heel; supplanter." Masculine. See also Jacob, James.
יצחק Yitzhak or Yiṣḥāq. Masculine. See also Isaac.
ירד Yáred/Yéred or Yāredh/Yéredh. "Descent." Masculine. See also Jared.
ישׁי Yíshai or Yíšay. "(Possibly) gift." Masculine. See also Jesse.
ישׁמעאל Yishma'el or Yišmā‘êl. "God will hear." Masculine. See also Ishmael.
ישׂראל Yisra'el or Yiśrā’ēl. "Struggled with God." Masculine. See also Israel.
ישׂשׁכר Yisachar or Yiśśâkhār. Masculine. See also Issachar.
לאה Le'a or Lē’āh. Feminine. See also Leah.
לוט Lot or Lôṭ. Masculine. See also Lot.
לוי Levy or Lēwî. "Attached." Masculine. See also Levi.
לחי Léchi or Léḥî. "Jawbone." Masculine. Primarily Mormon use. See also Lehi.
מנשׁה Menashe or Mənaššeh. Masculine. See also Manasseh.
מרדכי Mordechai or Mordŏkhay. Masculine. See also Mordecai.
נח Nóach or Nōªḥ. "Restless." Masculine. See also Noah.
נפתלי Naftali or Naphtālî. Masculine. See also Naphtali.
עשׂו Esav or ‘Ēśāw. "(Possibly) hairy." Masculine. See also Esau.
צבי Tzvi or Ṣəbhî. "Deer." Feminine.
צפור Tzipor or Ṣippôr. "Bird". Masculine.
צפורה Tzipora or Ṣippôrāh. "Bird". Feminine. See also Zipporah.
ראובן Re'uven or Rə’ûbhēn. "Look, a son." Masculine. See also Reuben.
רבקה Rivka or Ribhqāh. "(Possibly) snare." Feminine. See also Rebekah.
רחל Rachel, Rāḥēl or Rāḫēl. Feminine. See also Rachel.
רעואל Re'u'el, Rə‘û’ēl or Rəġû’ēl. Masculine. See also Reuel.
שׁלמה Shlomo or Šəlōmōh. "Peace." Historically unisex, now masculine. See also Solomon.
שׁמואל Shmu'el or Šəmû’ēl. "Name of God; God has heard." Masculine. See also Samuel.
שׁמעון Shim'on or Šim‘ôn. "Hearkening; listening." Masculine. See also Simeon, Simon.
שׁמשׁון Shimshon or Šimšôn. "(Probably) sun." Masculine. See also Samson.
שׂרה Sara or Śārāh. "Princess." Feminine. See also Sarah.
שׁת Shet or Šēth. "Placed; appointed." Masculine. See also Seth.