Israel () is a Hebrew-language masculine

given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...

. According to the

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

, the name was bestowed upon

Jacob Jacob, later known as Israel, is a Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions. He first appears in the Torah, where he is described in the Book of Genesis as a son of Isaac and Rebecca. Accordingly, alongside his older fraternal twin brother E ...

after the incident in which he wrestled with the angel ( and 35:10). The given name is already attested in Eblaite ( ) and

Ugaritic Ugaritic () is an extinct Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language known through the Ugaritic texts discovered by French archaeology, archaeologists in 1928 at Ugarit, including several major literary texts, notably the Baal cycl ...

( ). Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of the Book of Genesis etymologizes the name with the verb (, "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over"): (

KJV The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

: "a prince hast thou power with

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

") Modern scholars read the as the subject, for a translation of " El (Mighty One) persists/rules/shines forth/contends," or "El fights/struggles", and less often, readings with the adjective "just, right", "El (God) heals", "El judges" or "May El judge". Referring to a foreign people, the name appears on the

Merneptah Stele The Merneptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah, is an inscription by Merneptah, a pharaoh in ancient Egypt who reigned from 1213 to 1203 BCE. Discovered by Flinders Petrie at Thebes, Egypt, Thebes in 1896, i ...

( ), probably referring to the

Israelites Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...

Merneptah Merneptah () or Merenptah (reigned July or August 1213–2 May 1203 BCE) was the fourth pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. According to contemporary historical records, he ruled Egypt for almost ten y ...

was a pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Egypt that reigned for ten years (1213–1203 BC). In Jewish texts during the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

and beyond, as well as in Christian Greco-Egyptian texts, was understood to mean "a man seeing God": from (man) (to see) (God). Per the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

, Jacob's descendants (the

Twelve Tribes of Israel The Twelve Tribes of Israel ( , ) are described in the Hebrew Bible as being the descendants of Jacob, a Patriarchs (Bible), Hebrew patriarch who was a son of Isaac and thereby a grandson of Abraham. Jacob, later known as Israel (name), Israel, ...

) formed a national ethos and collectively established the Kingdom of Israel, whence came the name of the modern-day

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Given name

(later named Israel; see also

Jacob in Islam Yaqub ibn Ishaq ibn Ibrahim ibn Azar ( , ), later given the name Israil (, ), is recognized by Muslims as an Islamic prophet. He is held to have preached the same monotheism as his forefathers: Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac. Jacob is mentione ...

), biblical patriarch * Israel (Bishop of Caucasian Albania), 7th century CE * Israel (Nestorian patriarch), Patriarch of the Church of the East in 961 * Israel Abanikanda (born 2002), American football player * Israel Abrahams (1858–1925), British scholar and author * Israel Adesanya (born 1989), New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and boxer. *

Israel Alter Israel Alter (also: ''Yisraʾel Alter'',See Integrated Authority File of German National Library born September 23, 1901 in Lviv, Lemberg, died November 16, 1979, in New York City) was an Austria-Hungary, Austrian-HungarianClaudia Maurer Zenck, P ...

(1901–1979), Jewish composer and last chief cantor in Hanover, Germany *

Israel Asper Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper (August 11, 1932 – October 7, 2003) was a Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate. He was the founder and owner of the now-defunct TV and media company CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CE ...

(1932–2003), Canadian media magnate * Israel of Axum, Emperor of Ethiopia in the 6th century CE * Israel Baker (1919–2011), American violinist and concertmaster * Israel Bascón (born 1987), Spanish football player *Israel Beilin (1888–1989), the birth name of American composer

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...

* Yisroel Belsky (1938–2016), American rosh yeshiva and posek * Israel Bissell (1752–1823), American post rider and colonial militia officer * Israel Broussard (born 1994), American actor * Yisrael Campbell, American-born Israeli comedian * Israel Charny (1931–2024), Israeli psychologist and genocide scholar * Israel Cruz (born 1983), Australian singer * Israel Dagg (born 1988), New Zealand rugby player * Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), mystic and founder of

Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a Spirituality, spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most ...

* Israel Elimelech (born 1960), Israeli basketball player * Israel Englander (born 1948), American billionaire hedge fund manager * Israel Epstein (1915–2005), Polish-born Chinese journalist * Israel Lewis Feinberg (1872–1941), American physician and coroner * Israel Finkelstein (born 1949), Israeli archaeologist * Israel Folau (born 1989), Australian rugby player * Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin (1796–1850), Hasidic rebbe * Israel García (footballer, born 1999) (born 1999), Mexican footballer *

Yisrael Galili Yisrael Galili (; 10 February 1911 – 8 February 1986) was an Israeli politician, government minister and member of Knesset. Before Israel's independence in 1948, he served as Chief of Staff of Haganah, the main Zionist political violence, Zion ...

(Hebrew: ישראל גלילי, born Yisrael Balashnikov 1923–1995), Israeli weapons designer. * Israel Gelfand (1913–2009), Russian mathematician * Israel Gohberg (1928–2009), Moldovan-Soviet and Israeli mathematician *

Israel Gollancz Sir Israel Gollancz, FBA (13 July 1863 – 23 June 1930) was a scholar of early English literature and of Shakespeare. He was Professor of English Language and Literature at King's College, London, from 1903 to 1930. Life and career Gollancz wa ...

(1863–1930), British professor of English literature * Israil Gurung (born 1989), Indian footballer * Israel the Grammarian (895–969), 10th-century European scholar * Israel Hands (1701–1724?), 18th-century pirate * Israel Halperin, (1911–2007), Canadian mathematician and social activist * Israel Nathan Herstein (1923–1988), Polish-Canadian-American mathematician * Yisroel Hopstein (1737–1814), Maggid of Kozhnitz * Israel Houghton (born 1971), American singer and Christian worship leader * Israel Huaytari Martínez (born 1985), Bolivian politician * Israel Idonije (born 1980), Nigeria-born Canadian player of American football * Israel Jacob (1729–1803), Prussian banker and philanthropist * Israel Jacobs (1726–c. 1796), British-American colonial legislator * Israel Jacobson (1768–1828), German philanthropist and communal organiser * Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838–1933), rabbi and posek known as the Chofetz Chaim * Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (1959–1997), Hawaiian singer and spiritual leader * Yisrael Mendel Kaplan (1913–1985), teacher at Chicago's Hebrew Theological College *

Israel Katz Israel Katz (; born 21 September 1955) is an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Likud currently serving as Ministry of Defense (Israel), Minister of Defense and a member of the Security Cabinet of Israel. Katz has been recognized ...

(Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּ״ץ; born 1955), Israeli Minister of Defence * Yisrael Katz (1927–2010), Israeli scholar and civil servant * Israel Keyes (1978–2012), American serial killer, rapist, bank robber, burglar, and arsonist *

Israel Kirzner Israel Meir Kirzner (also Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ; born February 13, 1930) is a British-born American economist, historian, rabbi, and Talmudist closely identified with the Austrian School. Early life and education The son of a well-known rabbi a ...

(born 1930), American economist * Israel Jacob Kligler (1888–1944), Austro-Hungarian microbiologist, professor, and Zionist * Israel of Krems, 14th-/15th-century Austrian rabbi * Yisrael Kristal (1903–2017), Polish-Israeli supercentenarian * Israel "Izzy" Lang (1942–2008), American football running back * Yisrael Meir Lau (born 1937), former Chief Rabbi of Israel * Israel Levitan (1912–1982), American sculptor and painter * Israel Lewy (1841–1917), German scholar of Judaic texts * Israel Lipski (1865–1887), British convicted murderer * Israel Lovy (1773–1832), European ḥazzan and composer * Israel Lyons (1739–1775), English mathematician and botanist * Israel Machado (born 1960), Brazilian basketball player * Israel Madaye (born 1988), Chadian archer * Mohammad Israil Mansuri, Indian politician * Israel D. Maulsby (1781–1839), American politician from Maryland * Israel Mireles (born c.1983), Mexican convicted murderer * Israel Mukuamu (born 1999), American football player * Israel Ochoa (born 1964), Colombian cyclist * Yisroel Ber Odesser (1888–1994), Breslov rabbi * Israel Olatunde (born 2002), Irish sprinter * Israel Ori (1658–1711), Armenian diplomat * Israel Pellew (1758–1832), British admiral * Israel Pickens (1780–1827), American lawyer and politician * Israel Pilot, undergarment inventor * Israel Pliner (1896–1939), Soviet secret police functionary * Yisroel Avrohom Portugal (1923–2019), Skulener Rebbe * Israel Putnam (1718–1790), American general * Israel Raybon (born 1973), American football player *

Israel Regardie Francis Israel Regardie (; né Regudy; November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985) was an English and American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultis ...

(1907–1985), British occultist * Israel B. Richardson (1815–1862), American general * Israel Rivera, American soldier witness to Abu Ghraib conditions * Israel Ruiz Jr. (born 1943), New York politician * Israel Schwartz, Polish or Hungarian witness to an assault * Ysrael Seinuk (1931–2010), Cuban structural engineer * Israel Shahak (1933–2001), Israeli author * Israel Shamir (born 1947), Swedish antisemitic writer * Israel Sheinfeld (born 1976), Israeli basketball player * Yisrael Shomer (born 1977), Israeli officer in the IDF with the rank of lieutenant colonel * Israel Sieff, Baron Sieff (1889–1972), English businessman, life peer, and Zionist *

Israel Tal Israel Tal (; 13 September 1924 – 8 September 2010), also known as Talik (Hebrew: טליק), was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) general known for his knowledge of tank warfare and for leading the development of Israel's Merkava tank. Biography ...

(1924–2010), an Israeli general and tank developer *

Israel Vázquez Israel Vázquez Castañeda (December 25, 1977 – December 3, 2024) was a Mexican professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2010. He was a three-time super bantamweight world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation, IBF tit ...

(born 1977), Mexican boxer * Israel Wachser (1892–1919), Russian writer * Israel Wamiau (born 1994), Indonesian footballer * Yisroel Dovid Weiss (born 1956), Neturei Karta activist * Israel Zamosz (c.1700–1772) Polish-Lithuanian Talmudist, mathematician and poet * Israel Zangwill (1864–1926), British author * Israel Joseph Zevin (1872–1926), Belarusian-American humorist * Israel Zilber (1933 – after 1980), Latvian-Soviet chess player * Ysrael Zúñiga (born 1976), Peruvian footballer

Surname

* Al Israel (1936–2011), American actor *

Alex Israel Alex Israel (born October 1982) is an American multimedia artist, writer, and designer from Los Angeles. His work includes large, colorful airbrushed paintings of abstract gradients and Los Angeles skies, his self-portraits, painted on shaped fi ...

(born 1982), American artist * Alex Israel (businessman), American businessman and founder of

Metropolis Technologies Metropolis Technologies is an American technology company headquartered in Santa Monica, California. As of 2024, it is the largest parking operator in North America. Founding and key people The company was founded in Venice, Los Angeles in 2017 ...

* Edward Israel (1859–1884), American astronomer and polar explorer * Franco Israel (born 2000), Uruguayan footballer * Gerli Israel (born 1995), Estonian footballer *

Guni Israeli Guni Israeli (; born 18 November 1984) is an Israeli professional basketball player who last played for Hapoel Galil Elyon of the Israeli National League. In 2007, he was the Israeli Premier League Assists Leader. Early years Israeli was bo ...

(born 1984), Israeli basketball player *Harry Frederick Israel, later known as Harry Frederick Harlow (1905–1981), an American psychologist *

Jonathan Israel Jonathan Irvine Israel (born 22 January 1946) is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historic ...

(born 1946), British historian * Lee Israel (1939–2014), American author known for committing literary forgery * Leon Israel (1887–1955), American cartoonist * Léon Israel (1906–1944), French doctor, resistance fighter, and Jew executed by the French collaborationist

Milice The (French Militia), generally called (; ), was a political paramilitary organization created on 30 January 1943 by the Vichy France, Vichy régime (with Nazi Germany, German aid) to help fight against the French Resistance during World War ...

. * Märt Israel (born 1983), Estonian discus thrower * Martha Israel (1905–), German politician * Melvin Israel, later known as

Mel Allen Mel Allen (born Melvin Allen Israel; February 14, 1913 – June 16, 1996) was an American sportscaster, best known for his long tenure as the primary play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees. During the peak of his career in the 1940s, 1 ...

(1913–1996), American sportscaster *

Menasseh Ben Israel Manoel Dias Soeiro (; 1604 – 20 November 1657), better known by his Hebrew language, Hebrew name Menasseh or Menashe ben Israel (), was a Jewish scholar, rabbi, Kabbalah, kabbalist, writer, diplomat, printer (publisher), printer, publishe ...

(1604–1657), Portuguese rabbi and scholar * Rinus Israël (born 1942), Dutch football player and manager * Robert Decatur Israel (1826–1908), San Diego pioneer, keeper of the Old Point Loma lighthouse * Samuel Israel III (born 1959), American convicted felon and former hedge fund manager * Scott Israel (born 1956/57), American Police Chief of Opa-locka, former Sheriff of Broward County * Steve Israel (born 1958), American politician * Steve Israel (American football) (born 1969), American football player * Syed Shah Israil, 16th-century writer of Bengal * Wilfrid Israel (1899–1943), Anglo-German businessman and philanthropist * Yuri Izrael (1930–2014), Russian scientist and vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Fictional characters

*Israel Boone, son of title character in TV series ''Daniel Boone''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israel (Name) Surnames Surnames of Jewish origin Given names Masculine given names Hebrew masculine given names English masculine given names Country name etymology Theophoric names El (deity)

Given name

Surname

Fictional characters

See also

References