Israel (name)
| Pronunciation | In English: In Hebrew:
|
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Hebrew |
| Meaning | God Contended[1] Wrestles with God[2] Triumphant with God[3] |
| Region of origin | Near East |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Izzy (nickname) |
Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Modern: Yīsraʾel, Tiberian: Yīsrāʾēl) is a Hebrew-language masculine given name. According to the Book of Genesis, the name was bestowed upon Jacob after the incident in which he wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32:28 and 35:10). The given name is already attested in Eblaite (𒅖𒊏𒅋 Išrail) and Ugaritic (𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍 Yšrʾil).[4]: 195 Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of the Book of Genesis etymologizes the name with the verb śarah (שָׂרָה, "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over"):[5] שָׂרִיתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִים (KJV: "a prince hast thou power with God") Modern scholars read the el as the subject, for a translation of "El (Mighty One) persists/rules/shines forth/contends,"[6] or "El fights/struggles", and less often, readings with the adjective "just, right", "El (God) heals", "El judges" or "May El judge".[7]
Referring to a foreign people, the name appears on the Merneptah Stele (Egyptian: 𓇌𓊃𓏤𓏤𓂋𓇋𓄿𓂋𓏤 Ysrỉꜣr), probably referring to the Israelites.
In Jewish texts during the Second Temple period and beyond, as well as in Christian Greco-Egyptian texts, Israel was understood to mean "a man seeing God": from ʾyš (man) rʾh (to see) ʾel (God).[8]
Per the Bible, Jacob's descendants (the Twelve Tribes of Israel) formed a national ethos and collectively established the Kingdom of Israel, whence came the name of the modern-day State of Israel.
Given name
[edit]- Jacob (later named Israel; see also Jacob in Islam), 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 Adesanya (born 1989), New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and boxer.
- Israel Olatunde (born 2002), Irish sprinter
- Israel Alter (1901–1979), Jewish composer and last chief cantor in Hanover, Germany
- Israel Asper (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 Beilin (1888–1989), the birth name of American composer Irving Berlin
- 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 Cruz (born 1983), Australian singer
- Israel Dagg (born 1988), New Zealand rugby player
- Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), Jewish mystical rabbi
- 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), Mexican footballer
- Yisrael Galili (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
- Israil Gurung, Indian footballer
- Israel Gigato (born 1987), Spanish football player
- Israel the Grammarian, 10th-century European scholar
- Israel Hands, 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 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 (born 1955), Israeli politician
- Yisrael Katz (1927–2010), Israeli scholar and civil servant
- Israel Keyes (1978–2012), American serial killer, rapist, bank robber, burglar, and arsonist
- Israel Kirzner (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, 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 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 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 (1907–1985), British occultist
- Israel B. Richardson (1815–1862), American general
- Israel Rivera, American soldier witness to Abu Grahib conditions
- Israel Ruiz Jr. (born 1943), New York politician
- 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 Tal (1924–2010), an Israeli general and tank developer
- Israel Vázquez (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
[edit]- Al Israel (1936-2011), American actor
- Edward Israel (1859–1884), American astronomer and polar explorer
- Franco Israel (born 2000), Uruguayan footballer
- Gerli Israel (born 1995), Estonian footballer
- Guni Israeli (born 1984), Israeli basketball player
- Harry Frederick Israel, later known as Harry Frederick Harlow (1905-1981), an American psychologist
- Jonathan Israel (born 1946), British historian
- Lee Israel (1939–2014), American author known for committing literary forgery
- Léon Israel (1906-1944), French doctor, resistance fighter, and Jew executed by the French collaborationist Milice.
- Märt Israel (born 1983), Estonian discus thrower
- Martha Israel (1905–c. 1967), German politician
- Melvin Israel, later known as Mel Allen (1913–1996), American sportscaster
- Menasseh Ben Israel (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
[edit]- Israel Boone, son of title character in TV series Daniel Boone
References
[edit]- ^ Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name Israel". Behind the Name.
- ^ "Israel Definition and Meaning - Bible Dictionary". Bible Study Tools.
- ^ James P. Boyd, Bible dictionary, Ottenheimer Publishers, 1958
- ^ Michael G. Hasel, Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, Brill, 1998
- ^ שָׂרַר śarar "to be or act as prince, rule, contend, have power, prevail over, reign, govern" (Strong's Concordance 8280)
- ^ Hayward, Robert (2005). Interpretations of the name Israel in ancient Judaism and some early Christian writings: from victorious athlete to heavenly champion. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-19-924237-5. OCLC 58054328.
- ^ Wenham, Gordon (1994). Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 2: Genesis 16–50. Dallas, Texas: Word Books. pp. 296–97.
- ^ The Old Testament pseudepigrapha, Volume 2. Charlesworth, James H. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. 1983–1985. p. 703. ISBN 0232516278. OCLC 14814462.
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