Israel (name)


Israel is a biblical given name. According to the biblical Book of Genesis the patriarch Jacob was given the name Israel after he wrestled with the angel. The given name is already attested in Eblaite and Ugaritic. Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of Genesis etymologizes the name with the root śarah "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over": , but modern suggestions read the el as the subject, for a translation of "El/God rules/judges/struggles", "El fights/struggles".
The name appears on the Merneptah Stele as ?????????, referring to a foreign group of people.
In Jewish and Christian texts from the Greco-Egyptian area during Second Temple Judaism and beyond the name was understood to mean "a man seeing God" from the ʾyš rʾh ʾel.
Jacob's descendants came to be known as the Israelites, eventually forming the tribes of Israel and ultimately the kingdom of Israel, whence came the name of modern-day State of Israel.
In Israel, the name "Israel Israeli" is sometimes used to mean someone whose name is unknown or unspecified.
Israel was a common name among Chaldeans until recent times. A famous Chaldean author is Bishop, famous for authoring a book about the Chaldean Genocide. In Nazi Germany, male Jews who did not have "typically Jewish" given names were forced to add "Israel" as of January 1939. This decree was revoked by the Allies in 1945.

Given name