Israel (name)

Israel
Pronunciation	In English: /ˈɪzriəl/ IZ-ree-əl; /ˈɪzreɪəl/ IZ-ray-əl; In Hebrew: Modern: [jisʁaˈʔel]; Biblical: [jiɬraːˈʔeːl];
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/name	Hebrew
Meaning	God Contended; Contends with God; Triumphant with God
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

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 Abrahams (1858-1925), British scholar and author
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 Bascón (born 1987), Spanish football player
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 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
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 (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 (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 (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 (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 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 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 (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

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

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

References

^ 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
^ שָׂרָה‎ śarah "to contend, have power, contend with, persist, exert oneself, persevere" (Strong's Concordance H8323) 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.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

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[1] Campbell, Mike. "Meaning, origin and history of the name Israel". Behind the Name.

[2] "Israel Definition and Meaning - Bible Dictionary". Bible Study Tools.

[3] James P. Boyd, Bible dictionary, Ottenheimer Publishers, 1958

[4] Michael G. Hasel, Domination and Resistance: Egyptian Military Activity in the Southern Levant, Brill, 1998

[5] שָׂרָה‎ śarah "to contend, have power, contend with, persist, exert oneself, persevere" (Strong's Concordance H8323) שָׂרַר‎ śarar "to be or act as prince, rule, contend, have power, prevail over, reign, govern" (Strong's Concordance 8280)

[6] 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.

[7] Wenham, Gordon (1994). Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 2: Genesis 16–50. Dallas, Texas: Word Books. pp. 296–97.

[8] The Old Testament pseudepigrapha, Volume 2. Charlesworth, James H. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. 1983–1985. p. 703. ISBN 0232516278. OCLC 14814462.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

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