100 Hebrew Boy Names With Meanings and Pronunciations

Abbott

• Origin: Hebrew, English
• Meaning: Priest
• Pronunciation: AB-ut
• Namesakes: Bud Abbott, American comedian; Abbott Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University

Abbott is a Hebrew name meaning priest.

The name started life as a surname for a man who served in an abbot’s household, which is how a word for a religious office ended up on birth certificates. That history gives Abbott a settled, slightly formal weight without making it sound churchy.

It has the crisp two-beat shape American parents keep reaching for in surname names, and it goes almost unused, so a boy named Abbott will rarely meet another. Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello lends it comic warmth, and Harvard president Abbott Lawrence Lowell lends it an academic one. Against a short surname it reads almost like a title, which is either the whole appeal or the reason to pass.

Abel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Breath
• Pronunciation: AY-bul

Abel is a Hebrew boy name meaning breath.

Abel was the second son of Adam and Eve, and his story ends badly at his brother Cain’s hands. What tends to get lost is the rest of him. He is remembered as faithful and generous, and the name has carried that quieter reputation for centuries rather than the tragedy.

Sound-wise it is soft where a lot of biblical picks are heavy, two open syllables that pair easily with almost any surname. It also sidesteps the crowding around the more popular biblical names like David and Michael, so it reads familiar without being everywhere.

Abraham

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Father of multitudes
• Pronunciation: AY-bruh-ham
• Variations: Avraham, Abram, Ibrahim
• Namesakes: Abraham Lincoln, 16th US president
• Popularity: #209 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,664 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 3% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Abraham is a Hebrew name meaning father of multitudes.

He is the patriarch three faiths trace themselves back through, described in the Old Testament as a man who kept his word to God at real cost. That reach is why Abraham, Avraham and Ibrahim can all turn up on the same street in a dozen countries.

In American ears the name carries Lincoln more than anything else, which gives it a plainspoken dignity. It sat at #209 in the United States in 2025, well up from #433 in 1970. Abe is the standard nickname and Bram is the sharper modern one.

Absalom

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My father is peace
• Pronunciation: AB-suh-lum
• Namesakes: Absalom Jones, American abolitionist and clergyman

Absalom is a Hebrew name for boys meaning my father is peace.

The biblical Absalom was King David’s handsome, persuasive son, and the story does not flatter him. He avenged his sister Tamar, then turned on his father and died with his head caught in the branches of a tree. Parents who love the sound generally take the name for its music rather than its plot. There is better company elsewhere. Abolitionist and clergyman Absalom Jones carried it in early America, and William Faulkner borrowed it for his 1936 novel Absalom, Absalom! It is one of the few names here equally at home in a Victorian novel and a modern nursery.

Adam

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Son of the earth
• Pronunciation: AD-um
• Popularity: #101 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (3,501 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 21% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Adam is a Hebrew boy name meaning son of the earth.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all open with Adam as the first man, which makes it about as foundational as a name gets. It peaked in America in the mid-1980s at #18 and has since drifted just outside the top 100, edged aside by trendier A names such as Alexander and Aiden.

That drift is the appeal now. Adam is recognizable in almost every language, impossible to misspell, and no longer pinned to one decade, which is a rare combination.

Adin

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Delicate, gentle
• Pronunciation: AH-deen
• Namesakes: Adin Steinsaltz, Israeli rabbi and Talmud scholar

Adin is a Hebrew name meaning delicate or gentle.

There is an Adin in the Bible, though he keeps a low profile. He headed a family among the exiles who returned to Judah after the Babylonian captivity, and that is roughly the whole of it. The name has stayed at about that scale ever since, known in Israel and barely used in the United States.

Two syllables, soft consonants, no spelling trouble. If you like short boy names but want a little more room than Dov or Tal, Adin sits comfortably in the middle. It also sits well beside sisters named Ayala or Talia if you are building a Hebrew set.

Aharon

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Of the mountain
• Pronunciation: ah-ha-RONE
• Variations: Aaron, Aron
• Namesakes: Aharon Appelfeld, Israeli novelist
• Popularity: #2,077 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (71 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 43% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Aharon is a Hebrew name meaning of the mountain.

It is the Hebrew original behind Aaron. Scripture gives it to the older brother of Moses, the one who did the talking, and later to the first High Priest of the Israelites.

Aharon still ranked #25 among boys born in Israel in 2024, so this is a working name rather than a museum piece. In English-speaking countries it reads as the more traditional cousin of Aaron, and it shortens to Roni or Ari without any effort.

Alter

• Origin: Hebrew, Yiddish
• Meaning: Old
• Pronunciation: AHL-ter

Alter is a Hebrew and Yiddish name meaning old.

It comes out of a specific Ashkenazi custom. When a baby was sickly, parents sometimes gave or added the name Alter so the Angel of Death would pass over a child who already sounded ancient. The wish behind it was plain enough, that the boy would live to grow old. A girl born into the same situation got the matching name Alte.

You do not have to bring the superstition along to use it. Alter works as a straightforward blessing of a name, and it has an unusual, slightly gruff sound that nothing else on this list matches.

Amos

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Carried, borne by God
• Pronunciation: AY-mus
• Popularity: #730 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (364 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 79% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Amos is a Hebrew boy name meaning carried or borne by God.

The prophet Amos wrote the oldest of the prophetic books, and he wrote it angry, about people who cheated the poor and called it business. There is a spine in this name.

Puritans brought it to America in the 17th century, and it was a top 150 name here in 1880 before sliding to #730 by 2025. That puts Amos in the spot a lot of parents are hunting for: a genuine old-fashioned name, fully revivable, with no crowd around it yet.

Asa

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Doctor, healer
• Pronunciation: AY-suh
• Namesakes: Asa Gray, 19th-century American botanist
• Popularity: #483 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (622 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 46% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Asa is a Hebrew name for boys meaning doctor or healer.

Asa was the third king of Judah and reigned around forty years, a long tenure by Old Testament standards. Puritan settlers carried the name to New England, and the botanist Asa Gray made it a fixture of American science in the 1800s. Three letters, two syllables and a soft vowel ending, Asa fits the current taste for small, uncluttered boy names without being invented. It ranked #483 in the United States in 2025, familiar enough to pronounce and rare enough to stand out at the playground.

Asher

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Happy, fortunate
• Pronunciation: ASH-er
• Variations: Osher, Anshel
• Popularity: #28 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (7,456 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 167% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Asher is a Hebrew name meaning happy or fortunate.

Asher was the eighth son of Jacob and founder of his tribe, which the text says was blessed with rich land and a great many children. The Yiddish equivalent is Zelig, while Osher and Anshel are the older Hebrew and Yiddish forms.

It has been one of the fastest climbers of the past fifteen years, moving from #138 in 2010 to #28 in 2025. The upside is a name that sounds cheerful without sounding lightweight. The trade-off is that your son probably will not be the only Asher in his grade.

Barak

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Lightning
• Pronunciation: bah-RAHK

Barak is a Hebrew name meaning lightning.

In the Book of Judges, Barak led the Israelite army against Sisera’s Canaanite forces, agreeing to fight only if the prophetess Deborah came with him. They won, and the victory song that follows is one of the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible.

Say it bah-RAHK, with the weight on the second syllable. It is used in Israel and almost nowhere else in the English-speaking world, so expect to correct the stress from time to time.

Benjamin

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Son of the right hand
• Pronunciation: BEN-juh-min
• Variations: Binyamin, Benjamim
• Popularity: #11 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (9,762 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, unchanged over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Benjamin means son of the right hand in Hebrew.

The Hebrew spelling is Binyamin, built from ben, son, and yamin, right hand, which in the ancient world meant the favored side. He was the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, and the founder of the tribe of Benjamin.

Benjamin held #11 in the United States two years running after peaking at #6 in the late 2010s, so it is popular in the steady way rather than the trendy way. Ben, Benny and Benji hand you three very different registers to grow into.

Boaz

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Swiftness, strength
• Pronunciation: BOH-az
• Popularity: #891 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (268 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 154% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Boaz is a Hebrew boy name meaning swiftness or strength.

He is the landowner in the Book of Ruth who notices a foreign widow gleaning in his field and treats her decently when nothing required him to. Of all the men on this list, his reputation may rest most squarely on plain kindness.

The name is genuinely popular in the Netherlands, where it ranked #34 in 2025, while it only just scraped into the US top 1000 at #891. Bo is the ready-made nickname and carries a lot of the load if the full name feels like a mouthful for a toddler.

Caleb

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Devotion to God
• Pronunciation: KAY-leb
• Variations: Kaleb, Calev
• Popularity: #58 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (5,217 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 32% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Caleb is a Hebrew name for boys meaning devotion to God.

Caleb and Joshua were the two scouts who came back from Canaan insisting the land could be taken, and the only two of their generation who lived to see it happen. Stubborn optimism is baked in. Though the roots are Hebrew, it became a popular English name among Protestants after the Reformation. It sat at #58 in the United States in 2025, down from its 2009 peak, which means plenty of people know it and fewer are choosing it than a decade ago. Kaleb and Calev are the usual respellings.

Canaan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Low, humble
• Pronunciation: KAY-nun (Hebrew: keh-NAH-ahn)

Canaan means low or humble in Hebrew.

Genesis uses it two ways, as a son of Ham and as the land between the Jordan and the Mediterranean promised to Abraham. Most parents are drawn to the place rather than the person.

English speakers say it KAY-nun, close to the word cannon, which is worth knowing before you commit. It is rare in the United States and reads modern rather than antique, an unusual trick for a name this old.

Castiel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My cover is God
• Pronunciation: KAS-tee-el

Castiel is a Hebrew name meaning my cover is God.

It is not a Bible name. Castiel turns up in later Judeo-Christian angelology as an angel associated with temperance and tears, which is a fairly specific job description.

Most of its current use traces to the angel of the same name on the television series Supernatural. That gives this C name a foot in two worlds at once, old enough to feel weighty and recent enough that people will recognize it. Cas comes free with it.

Chaim

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Life
• Pronunciation: KHY-eem
• Variations: Chayim, Haim, Hayyim, Hyam
• Popularity: #666 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (411 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 46% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Chaim is a Hebrew name meaning life.

It has been in use since medieval times, when families sometimes added it to a sick child’s name as a plea for more years. The Hebrew toast l’chaim, to life, comes from the same word, so the name gets spoken at every Jewish celebration whether or not anyone in the room is called Chaim.

It ranked #24 among boys born in Israel in 2024 and stays common in observant communities abroad. The opening sound is the guttural Hebrew ch, which is why Haim and Hayyim exist as spellings that go easier on English speakers. Chaya is the feminine form.

Chanan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God is compassionate
• Pronunciation: khah-NAHN
• Variations: Hanan, Canan

Chanan is a Hebrew name for boys meaning God is compassionate.

Several men carry it in the Hebrew Bible, mostly clan chiefs plus one of the family heads who came back from exile with Zerubbabel. None of them gets much narrative, which leaves the name unencumbered.

Hanan is the spelling that travels best in English. Chana is the feminine form, which makes the pair an easy call for twins.

Cohen

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Priest
• Pronunciation: KOH-en
• Popularity: #225 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,590 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 58% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Cohen is a Hebrew name meaning priest.

As a surname it marks descent from Aaron, the brother of Moses, and the priestly line that served in the Temple. That is worth knowing, because some Jewish families treat it strictly as a lineage marker and would not use it as a first name.

In the United States it has become one of the more successful surnames turned given names, climbing from #277 in 2022 to #225 in 2025. It scans like Owen and Rowan while carrying more history than either.

Dael

• Origin: Hebrew, Dutch
• Meaning: Knowledge of God
• Pronunciation: DAYL
• Variations: Dayle, Daile, Dail

Dael is a Hebrew and Dutch name for boys meaning knowledge of God.

It doubles as a Dutch unisex name meaning small valley, and it shares a sound with the English Dale, which is the closest most Americans will get to a reference point. Dael has never appeared in the US top 1000, so you are choosing something close to unused. Expect to spell it out, and know that Dayle, Daile and Dail are all in circulation if one of them sits better with your surname.

Dagan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Grain, corn
• Pronunciation: dah-GAHN

Dagan is a Hebrew name meaning grain of corn.

It is sometimes given to children born around Shavuot, the festival that marks the wheat harvest in Israel, which makes it one of the few names on this list with a season attached. The older layer underneath is Dagon, a Semitic god linked to grain and fertility across the ancient Near East.

Say it dah-GAHN. It is used for girls occasionally in Israel, though it leans strongly masculine. If you want the agricultural imagery without the mythology, Dagan gives you a harvest name that no one in the United States will have heard before.

Daniel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God is my judge
• Pronunciation: DAN-yul
• Variations: Danel, Daniyel
• Namesakes: Daniel Radcliffe and Daniel Craig, British actors
• Popularity: #22 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (8,085 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 33% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Daniel is a Hebrew boy name meaning God is my judge.

Daniel is the Old Testament figure who reads the writing on the wall and walks out of the lions’ den, remembered for wisdom and for not bending under pressure. It is one of very few names that has stayed in the American top 25 across a full century. It ranked #22 in the United States in 2025 and #16 in Israel in 2024, so it works in both languages without adjustment. Danny and Dan are the classic short forms, and the world’s most famous wizard Daniel Radcliffe and 007 star Daniel Craig keep it current.

David

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Beloved
• Pronunciation: DAY-vid
• Variations: Dawid, Davide
• Namesakes: David Bowie, English musician; David Beckham, English footballer
• Popularity: #35 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (6,794 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 34% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

David is a Hebrew boy name meaning beloved.

He starts as the youngest shepherd in the family and ends as king of Israel, with the fight against Goliath in between. The Star of David still carries his name as the symbol of the Jewish people, which puts this among the most weighted choices on the list.

David was the #1 boy name in Israel in 2024 with more than 1,800 births, and the #1 name in the United States back in 1960. It has eased to #35 here by 2025, which is the enviable position of being universally known and no longer everywhere. Dave, Davy and the Hebrew Dudi all work.

Dov

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Bear
• Pronunciation: DOVE (rhymes with stove)

Dov means bear in Hebrew.

Three letters, one syllable, and an animal behind it that needs no explaining. Dov is common in Israel and in observant communities abroad, and almost unheard of in the wider United States, so it delivers rarity without strangeness.

The Yiddish form is Ber, which is a hair closer to the English word. Pair it with a longer surname and the shortness becomes the point.

Eber

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Region beyond
• Pronunciation: EE-ber
• Variations: Heber

Eber is a Hebrew name meaning region beyond.

It comes from the root avar, to pass over or cross, and Eber himself was a descendant of Shem counted in tradition as the ancestor of the Hebrews. The family that carried the name crossed borders for generations, which is exactly what the word describes.

Heber is the alternate spelling and the more common one in English records. Eber is the crisper of the two and looks modern on paper despite being one of the oldest names here.

Eitan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Strong, enduring
• Pronunciation: ay-TAHN
• Variations: Ethan, Etan
• Popularity: #921 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (256 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 86% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Eitan is a Hebrew boy’s name meaning strong or long-lived.

It is the Hebrew form behind Ethan, and the two have had very different careers. Ethan is a long-running American favorite that peaked at #2 in 2010 and still ranked #24 in 2025. Eitan, spelled the Hebrew way, only entered the US top 1000 for the first time in 2025, at #920.

In Israel it is a different story: Eitan ranked #13 among boys born there in 2024. So this spelling gives you a name that is completely established in Hebrew and genuinely new in English, which is a hard combination to find. Etan is the simplified spelling if the diphthong causes trouble.

Eleazar

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God helps
• Pronunciation: el-ee-AY-zer
• Variations: Elazar, Lazarus

Eleazar is a Hebrew boy’s name meaning God helps.

He appears repeatedly in the Old Testament, most notably as a son of Aaron who succeeded him as High Priest. The more recognizable relative is Lazarus, the man raised in the Gospel of John. Eliezer is a separate Hebrew name that sits close enough in sound to get mixed up with it.

Behind the Name records no US popularity data for Eleazar at all, which tells you how far under the radar it sits. Four syllables is a lot for a toddler, but Eli and Lazar both cut it down neatly, and Eli happens to be one of the most popular boy nicknames in America right now.

Elias

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My God is the Lord
• Pronunciation: ee-LY-us
• Variations: Elijah, Eliyahu, Elia
• Popularity: #13 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (8,837 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 133% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Elias is a Hebrew boy name meaning my God is the Lord.

It is the Greek and Latin form of Elijah, the prophet who faced down the priests of Baal and won. Eliyahu is the Hebrew original if you want the version used in synagogue. Elias has had a remarkable decade, climbing from #100 in the United States in 2015 to #13 in 2025, and it was the single most popular boy name in Austria in 2024. If you want the Elijah sound with a softer landing and a European accent, this is it. The soft ending means it rarely gets clipped, so the full name is what he will actually be called.

Elisha

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My God is salvation
• Pronunciation: ee-LY-shuh
• Variations: Elishah

Elisha is a Hebrew name meaning my God is salvation.

Elisha was Elijah’s student and successor, the prophet who took up the older man’s cloak and kept going. The stories attached to him lean toward healing and provision rather than confrontation, which gives the name a gentler cast than its Bible neighbors.

Puritans took it up after the Reformation, and it turns up steadily in early American records. Two cautions worth naming: it looks close to the girls’ name Alisha in print, and the stress falls on the second syllable, ee-LY-shuh. Choose it knowing you will be correcting both the spelling and the stress fairly often.

Elon

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Oak tree
• Pronunciation: AY-lohn
• Variations: Alon, Eilon, Elan
• Popularity: #1,780 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (90 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 337% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Elon is a Hebrew name for males meaning oak tree.

Alon, Eilon and Elan are the related spellings, and all of them are ordinary in Israel, where Elon ranked #50 in 2024. In the United States the name is essentially unused. It appeared in the top 1000 only briefly and last showed up at #957 in 2021.

That leaves a tree name with a solid Hebrew pedigree sitting almost entirely free for the taking. If you want the botanical meaning with less of the tech association, Alon is the spelling most Israeli families use.

Enoch

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Dedicated
• Pronunciation: EE-nuk
• Popularity: #746 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (348 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 72% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Enoch is a Hebrew name meaning dedicated.

He was Noah’s great-grandfather and one of only two figures in the Hebrew Bible who leave the world without dying. Genesis says simply that he walked with God, and then he was not, which is about as memorable an exit as scripture offers.

Enoch was a top 200 American name in 1880 and had slipped to #746 by 2025. It remains widely used in parts of Africa, where a long list of pastors, athletes and politicians carry it. Say it EE-nuk, not EE-nock.

Ezekiel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God strengthens
• Pronunciation: ee-ZEE-kee-ul
• Variations: Yechezkel, Ezequiel
• Popularity: #61 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (5,091 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 197% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Ezekiel is a Hebrew boy name meaning God strengthens.

Ezekiel was a priest exiled to Babylon who prophesied both the fall of Jerusalem and the restoration of Israel, and whose visions are the strangest and most cinematic in the Hebrew Bible. Wheels within wheels, a valley of dry bones coming back together.

For a name with that much old weight it is doing well: #61 in the United States in 2025, just off its 2022 peak of #48. Zeke is the shortcut that makes the whole thing wearable, and Ezequiel is the Spanish spelling.

Ezra

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Help, assistance
• Pronunciation: EZ-ruh
• Popularity: #20 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (8,126 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 284% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Ezra is a Hebrew name meaning help or assistance.

Ezra was the scribe and priest who led a group of exiles home from Babylon and then rebuilt Jewish religious life around the text itself. Anyone who has ever organized a community from scratch has a patron here. The name has been one of the great climbs of the century, moving from #241 in 2010 to #13 in 2024 before settling at #20 in 2025. It is occasionally given to girls too. Two syllables and an easy Z, which is much of why it took off.

Feivel

• Origin: Hebrew, Yiddish
• Meaning: Bright one
• Pronunciation: FAY-vul
• Variations: Fayvel, Faivish

Feivel is a Hebrew and Yiddish name meaning bright one.

It is a Yiddish diminutive of Faivish, which reaches back through Latin to the Greek Phoibos, an epithet of the sun god. For most American parents, though, the reference point is the little mouse in the 1986 animated film An American Tail, and that is not a bad association to carry.

Feivel is rare even in Yiddish-speaking families now. If you want an Ashkenazi name with real warmth and no chance of duplication, this is one of the last ones nobody has picked up.

Gabriel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God is my strength
• Pronunciation: GAY-bree-ul
• Variations: Gavriel, Gabriele, Jibril
• Popularity: #37 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (6,569 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 30% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Gabriel is a Hebrew name for boys meaning God is my strength.

Gabriel is one of two archangels named in the Hebrew Bible, and he keeps showing up wherever a message has to be delivered: to Daniel, to Mary, and in Islam to Muhammad as Jibril. That makes him a shared figure across three faiths rather than a borrowed one.

The name ranked #37 in the United States in 2025 and was the single most popular boy name in France in 2024, so it crosses languages without losing its shape. Gabe is the American nickname, Gavriel the Hebrew form, and Gabriela the feminine version if you end up with a daughter later.

Gad

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Fortune, luck
• Pronunciation: GAD

Gad is the lucky pick among our Hebrew names for boys, meaning fortune.

Two men carry it in the Hebrew Bible.

One is Jacob’s son by Zilpah and ancestor of one of the twelve tribes; the other is a seer who advised King David. Neither gets a long story, which is part of the appeal.

It is a single closed syllable, blunt and quick, and it rhymes with words English speakers use every day. That is either a feature or a problem depending on your surname, so say the full name out loud a few times before you decide.

Gershom

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Exile, a stranger there
• Pronunciation: GUR-shum
• Variations: Gershon

Gershom is a Hebrew name meaning a stranger there or exile.

Moses named his first son Gershom while living in Midian, explaining in Exodus that he had been a stranger in a foreign land. Scholars read the root as exile; the Bible supplies its own wordplay on ger sham, a stranger there. Either way the name is a piece of autobiography.

Gershon is the closely related name of one of Levi’s sons and the spelling more often used today. It has never charted in the United States, so a Gershom will be the only one anywhere he goes.

Gideon

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Feller, hewer
• Pronunciation: GID-ee-un
• Popularity: #337 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (993 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 71% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Gideon is a Hebrew name for males often read as great warrior.

The Book of Judges gives him one of the better stories in the Bible: an unconvinced farmer who asks for proof twice, then routs the Midianites with three hundred men, trumpets and clay jars. English Puritans took the name up in the 16th century and it reached America with them.

It has climbed hard since the turn of the century, from #875 in 2000 to #337 in 2025, without ever getting crowded. Most families just use the whole thing, which suits a name this sturdy.

Gilead

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Heap of witness
• Pronunciation: GIL-ee-ud

Gilead is a Hebrew name meaning heap of witness.

In the Old Testament, Gilead is the mountainous country east of the Jordan River, in what is now Jordan, known for its balm and its pastureland. It also belongs to several men in the text, so it has always worked both ways.

Margaret Atwood borrowed it for the republic in The Handmaid’s Tale, which is the association most readers arrive with. Worth weighing, though the biblical Gilead is a place of healing rather than the opposite. It is a three-syllable name that never feels long, which is rarer than it sounds.

Herschel

• Origin: Hebrew, Yiddish
• Meaning: Deer
• Pronunciation: HER-shul
• Variations: Hershel, Hirshel, Hirsh
• Namesakes: William Herschel, astronomer who discovered Uranus

Herschel is a Hebrew and Yiddish name meaning deer.

It began as a Yiddish diminutive of Hirsh among Ashkenazi Jews in German-speaking lands, and the American spelling was probably reinforced by the German surname Herschel. Hershel and Hirshel are the other spellings you will see.

Hershel of Ostropol, the folk trickster who aimed his jokes at the rich and powerful, is the figure most closely tied to the name in Jewish humor. On the other side of the ledger, William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781. Not many names come with both a comedian and a planet.

Hiram

• Origin: Phoenician, Hebrew
• Meaning: Exalted brother
• Pronunciation: HY-rum
• Namesakes: Hiram Ulysses Grant, born name of the 18th US president; Hiram King Williams, country singer known as Hank Williams

Hiram is a Hebrew boy’s name meaning exalted brother or high-born.

The roots are Phoenician rather than Hebrew proper. Hiram was the king of Tyre, likely in the 10th century BC, who sent cedar and craftsmen to help build the Temple in Jerusalem. If you are after a name fit for a king, this one is literal. Puritans carried it to America in the 17th century, which is why the namesakes are so American: country music’s Hiram King Williams, better known as Hank, and Hiram Ulysses Grant, who became president as Ulysses S. Grant. Say it HY-rum.

Immanuel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God is with us
• Pronunciation: ih-MAN-yoo-el
• Variations: Emmanuel, Emanuele, Manuel
• Namesakes: Immanuel Kant, German philosopher

Immanuel is a Hebrew name meaning God is with us.

It is built from im, with, and el, God, and it appears in Isaiah as the promised name of a child who would be a sign to the house of David. Most English Bibles keep Immanuel in the Old Testament and switch to Emmanuel in the New.

The name traveled well: Emanuele in Italy, Emmanouil in Greece, Manuel across Spain and Portugal. Immanuel Kant gave the I spelling its scholarly reputation. Manny and Mano are the everyday nicknames, and both keep the four syllables from becoming a burden.

Isaac

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He will laugh
• Pronunciation: EYE-zik
• Variations: Yitzhak, Izaak, Ishaq
• Popularity: #47 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (5,953 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 16% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Isaac is a Jewish name for boys meaning he will laugh.

Isaac was the son Abraham and Sarah were promised long after they had stopped expecting one, and the laughter in the name is Sarah’s, first in disbelief and then in joy. Few names carry their own origin story that neatly.

It ranked #47 in the United States in 2025 and is common among Christian, Jewish and Muslim families alike, appearing as Yitzhak in Hebrew and Ishaq in Arabic. Ike and Zac both work as short forms, and Izaak is the spelling used across much of northern Europe.

Isaiah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God is salvation
• Pronunciation: eye-ZAY-uh
• Variations: Yeshayahu, Isaias
• Popularity: #57 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (5,267 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 24% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Isaiah is a Hebrew boy name meaning God is salvation.

The prophet Isaiah wrote the longest and most quoted of the prophetic books, the one that supplies the language of comfort read at funerals and the line about swords beaten into plowshares. It is a name with a lot of literature behind it.

Isaiah has held a spot between #39 and #60 in the United States for two full decades, landing at #57 in 2025, which is about as stable as a name gets. It also does well in the middle-name slot, where three syllables give a short first name somewhere to go.

Ishmael

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God will hear
• Pronunciation: ISH-may-el
• Variations: Ismail, Ismael
• Popularity: #1,469 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (121 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 18% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Ishmael means God will hear in Hebrew.

He was Abraham’s first son, born to Hagar, and Islamic tradition counts him as a major prophet and the ancestor of the northern Arab peoples. That makes Ishmael, or Ismail, one of the most widely borne names in the world outside the United States.

Here it is another matter. Ishmael last appeared in the US top 1000 in 1998 at #953. Herman Melville gave it its famous English sentence, and the opening of Moby-Dick is still the first thing most American readers think of. Ish and Mel both work if the full name feels long.

Israel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He who struggles with God
• Pronunciation: IZ-ree-ul
• Variations: Yisrael, Yisroel
• Popularity: #315 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,081 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 1% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Israel is a Hebrew boy’s name meaning he who struggles with God.

Jacob is given the name in Genesis after wrestling all night with a stranger and refusing to let go until he is blessed. His descendants became the Israelites, then the kingdom, then the modern state, so a single wrestling match ended up naming a nation.

The Hebrew form Yisrael ranked #12 among boys born in Israel in 2024, while the English spelling sat at #315 in the United States in 2025. Izzy and Iz are the usual shortcuts.

Jacob

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Supplanter, holder of the heel
• Pronunciation: JAY-kub
• Variations: Yaakov, Jakob, Yakov
• Popularity: #43 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (6,152 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 49% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jacob is a Jewish boy’s name meaning supplanter or holder of the heel.

He was born gripping his twin’s heel, and he spent the first half of his life living up to it, taking Esau’s birthright and then their father’s blessing. He is also the man renamed Israel, so the trickster becomes the patriarch by the end of the story. Jacob was the most popular boy name in America for thirteen straight years, from 2000 through 2012. By 2025 it had eased to #43, which means it now reads as a well-loved classic rather than a chart-topper. It still trails only James among J names, and Jake, Coby and the Hebrew Yaakov give you room to move.

Jadon

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Thankful, or he will judge
• Pronunciation: JAY-dun
• Variations: Jaden, Jayden
• Popularity: #1,282 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (153 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 64% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jadon is a Hebrew name for boys whose meaning is uncertain, read either as thankful or as he will judge.

He is a minor figure in the Old Testament, one of the men who repaired the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. The name is genuinely biblical, unlike its far more popular cousins Jayden and Jaden, which are modern inventions built on the same sound.

That gap is the reason to choose it. Jadon left the US top 1000 after 2015, so you get the familiar Jayden sound with an ancient spelling and none of the crowd.

Jared

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Descent
• Pronunciation: JAIR-ud
• Variations: Yared, Jarrod, Jarod
• Popularity: #396 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (804 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 42% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jared is a Hebrew name for boys meaning descent.

The Hebrew form is Yared, and in Genesis he is one of the long-lived patriarchs between Adam and Noah, the father of Enoch. English speakers picked the name up after the Protestant Reformation along with the rest of the Old Testament roster.

It had a real American moment, peaking at #51 in 1998 before sliding to #396 by 2025. That decline is useful to you: Jared is a name every adult recognizes instantly and almost no toddler is currently carrying. It sits in the same sound family as Jacob and Judah without repeating either, useful if you are naming a second or third son.

Jedidiah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Beloved of the Lord
• Pronunciation: jed-ih-DY-uh
• Variations: Jedediah, Yedidyah
• Popularity: #876 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (274 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 53% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jedidiah is a Hebrew boy name meaning beloved of the Lord.

It was the second name the prophet Nathan gave Solomon as an infant, a private one alongside the royal one. Like the other -iah names it carries the divine element yah at the end, which is what gives the whole family its rolling, old-scripture cadence.

It sits near the bottom of the US top 1000, at #874 in 2025.

Jed is the short form that does the heavy lifting and sounds like a completely different, much plainer name. Fans of a slightly nerdy twist have also been known to shorten it to Jedi.

Jeremiah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh will exalt
• Pronunciation: jair-uh-MY-uh
• Variations: Yirmiyahu, Jeremias
• Popularity: #88 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (3,840 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 26% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jeremiah is a Hebrew name for boys meaning Yahweh will exalt.

Jeremiah is the prophet who spent a career telling people what they did not want to hear and got a whole style of lament named after him. The name itself, though, has none of that gloom in English. It sounds warm and unhurried.

It ranked #88 in the United States in 2025, off its peak around #49 in 2010 but still comfortably in the top 100. Jerry, Jem and Jere all shorten it, and it stays a step back from the very crowded biblical names such as Michael, Benjamin and David.

Joel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh is God
• Pronunciation: JOH-ul
• Variations: Yoel
• Popularity: #219 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,633 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 31% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Joel is a Hebrew name meaning Yahweh is God.

Yoel is the Hebrew form. The prophet Joel wrote one of the twelve short prophetic books, the one with the locusts and the promise of restoration, and there are more than a dozen other Joels scattered through the Old Testament.

The name peaked in America at #67 in 1985 and has settled at #219 as of 2025, which puts it squarely in the quiet zone where a name is known by everyone and chosen by few. Two clean syllables that never sound like they are trying.

Jonah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Dove
• Pronunciation: JOH-nuh
• Variations: Yonah, Jonas
• Popularity: #128 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,828 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 9% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Jonah is a Hebrew name for boys meaning dove.

Everyone knows the fish. What gets less airtime is the rest of the book, which is short, funny and about a prophet who sulks when his warning works. It is the least solemn story in the prophetic canon.

Jonah ranked #128 in the United States in 2025 and has barely moved in a decade, which is a good sign for parents who want steady rather than fashionable. The dove meaning also makes it one of the gentler options on a list full of warriors and kings.

Joshua

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh is salvation
• Pronunciation: JOSH-oo-uh
• Variations: Yehoshua, Yeshua, Josue
• Popularity: #66 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (4,773 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 54% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Joshua is a Hebrew name meaning Yahweh is salvation.

Joshua was Moses’ aide and the man who led the Israelites into Canaan after him, which makes him the rare biblical successor who actually finishes the job. The Hebrew form Yehoshua later shortened to Yeshua. It has been a familiar American name for over fifty years, peaking at #6 in 2009 and easing to #66 by 2025. The three-syllable shape ending in a soft vowel is what keeps it from sounding severe, and Josh has been doing reliable nickname duty the whole time.

Judah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Praised
• Pronunciation: JOO-duh
• Variations: Yehuda, Jude
• Popularity: #178 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,050 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 99% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Judah is a Hebrew name that means praised.

Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and the founder of the tribe that eventually gave its name to Judaism itself. Yehuda is the Hebrew form, and it ranked #9 among boys born in Israel in 2024.

In the United States it has climbed from #809 in 2000 to #178 in 2025, one of the steadier rises on this list. The hard opening and the open ah ending give it a decisive sound, and Jude is the softer, Beatles-adjacent short form waiting underneath.

Kenan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Possession
• Pronunciation: KEE-nun
• Namesakes: Kenan Thompson, American actor and comedian
• Popularity: #1,148 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (184 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 58% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Kenan is a Hebrew name whose meaning is uncertain, usually given as possession.

He shows up in the genealogies of Genesis as a son of Enosh and a great-grandson of Adam, and that is the whole of his biblical career. Being mentioned once is exactly why the name never got worn down.

Say it KEE-nun. It last appeared in the US top 1000 in 1997 and is far more common in Bosnia, where it ranked #47 in 2024. For most Americans the reference point is Kenan Thompson, which gives an ancient name a friendly, familiar face.

Kish

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Bow, snaring
• Pronunciation: KISH

Kish is a Hebrew name for boys usually given the meaning snaring.

Five men in the Hebrew Bible carry it, and the one who matters is the father of Saul, Israel’s first king. He gets one memorable errand: he sends his son out to look for lost donkeys, and Saul comes back anointed. Standard onomastic references carry no settled definition for the name, so treat any meaning you see attached to it as an educated guess.

Kish is rare in Israel and in the United States alike. One closed syllable, quick to say, quick to spell, and all but certain to be the only one your son ever meets.

Levi

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Attached, joined
• Pronunciation: LEE-vy
• Variations: Levy
• Popularity: #12 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (9,642 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 70% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Levi is a Hebrew name that means attached or joined.

Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah, and his descendants became the tribe set apart for service in the Temple, which is where the words Levite and Leviticus come from. The name appears in the New Testament as well, as the tax collector who becomes Matthew.

It has been one of the great American climbs of the century, from #70 in 2010 to #12 in 2025.

Part of that is sound and part is denim, but the effect is a name that reads rugged and biblical at the same time. Lev is the Hebrew short form and means heart.

Malachi

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My messenger
• Pronunciation: MAL-uh-ky
• Variations: Malachy
• Popularity: #134 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,692 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 11% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Malachi is a Hebrew boy’s name meaning my messenger.

The Book of Malachi closes the Old Testament, so in most Bibles this is the last human name before the New Testament begins. Whether Malachi was the prophet’s name or simply his job description is still argued over.

It climbed from #161 in 2022 to #134 in 2025, popular enough that people spell it right and rare enough that it has not tipped over. The Irish spelling Malachy is a separate saint’s name that landed on the same sound by a different road. It also pairs cleanly with Micah, Josiah and the rest of the prophet names if you are building a set.

Malik

• Origin: Arabic, Hebrew
• Meaning: King
• Pronunciation: MAH-lik
• Variations: Malek, Maleek, Maliq
• Popularity: #437 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (724 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, down 15% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Malik is a name meaning king.

Its home language is Arabic, where al-Malik is one of the ninety-nine names of God, and it shares a Semitic root with the Hebrew melech, the word for king that also produced Melech, Malka and Melekh. So Malik sits on the Hebrew and Arabic sides of the same family at once. In the United States it peaked at #97 in 1996 and stood at #437 in 2025. Malek, Maleek and Maliq are all in use, so decide on a spelling early and expect to repeat it. It is a strong pick if you want a name that travels easily between Jewish, Muslim and secular circles.

Matthias

• Origin: Hebrew, Greek
• Meaning: Gift of God
• Pronunciation: muh-THY-us
• Variations: Mattias, Matthew, Mattityahu
• Popularity: #372 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (854 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 125% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Matthias is a Greek and Hebrew name for boys meaning gift of God.

Matthias is the disciple chosen by lot to replace Judas among the twelve, which makes him the only apostle appointed after the fact. The Hebrew original is Mattityahu, the same name carried by the priest who launched the Maccabean revolt behind Hanukkah.

It jumped a hundred places in a single year, from #472 in 2024 to #372 in 2025. If you like Matthew but not how well used it is, this is the same root with more edge. Matt and Mattie are right there when you want them.

Michael

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Who is like God?
• Pronunciation: MY-kul
• Variations: Micha, Mikhael
• Popularity: #21 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (8,094 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 38% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Michael is a Hebrew name meaning who is like God?

It is a rhetorical question, and the expected answer is no one. Michael the archangel is the protector of Israel in the Book of Daniel and the patron saint of soldiers in Christian tradition, which is a lot of weight for two syllables to carry.

Michael was the #1 or #2 boy name in America for a decade straight around the turn of the century and had eased to #21 by 2025, while still ranking #15 in Israel in 2024. Whatever your family speaks, some version of it works: Micha in German, Mikhael as the fuller transliteration, Mikhail in Russian. Michal is a separate Hebrew name, a woman’s name in the Bible, rather than a spelling of this one. Mike and Micah are the everyday alternatives.

Moses

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Drawn out of the water
• Pronunciation: MOH-zes
• Variations: Moshe, Moishe, Movses
• Popularity: #515 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (583 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 16% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Moses means drawn out of the water.

Pharaoh’s daughter names him for how she found him, and the man who was pulled out of a river later parts a sea. It is hard to name a figure more central to Judaism.

Moshe ranked #8 among boys born in Israel in 2024, so the Hebrew form is thriving even as the English one has faded from #119 in 1880 to #515 in 2025. Moishe is the Yiddish version and Movses the Armenian one. It carries more weight than almost any name here, which is either exactly what you want or slightly too much.

Nathan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He has given
• Pronunciation: NAY-thun
• Variations: Natan, Nussen
• Popularity: #63 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (4,975 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 41% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Nathan is a Hebrew name meaning he has given.

The prophet Nathan is the one person willing to walk into King David’s court and tell him, by way of a story about a stolen lamb, exactly what he had done to Uriah. Speaking truth to power is written into this name’s résumé.

Nathan peaked at #20 in the United States in the mid-2000s and sat at #63 in 2025, so it is settling rather than falling. Nathaniel gives you a longer version, Nate and Nat the shorter ones, and the Yiddish Nussen and Nosson a more traditional route.

Noah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Rest, comfort
• Pronunciation: NOH-uh
• Variations: Noach, Noa
• Popularity: #2 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (20,358 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 21% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Noah is a Hebrew name usually read as rest or comfort.

The ark, the flood, the pairs of animals and the dove with the olive branch make this the best-known story in the Hebrew Bible for children, which is part of why parents keep choosing it. Noach is the Hebrew spelling.

Noah held the #1 spot in the United States from 2013 through 2016 and ranked #2 in both 2024 and 2025. Popularity is the only real drawback: it is a name your son will share, everywhere he goes.

Noam

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Pleasantness
• Pronunciation: NOH-am
• Namesakes: Noam Chomsky, American linguist
• Popularity: #1,273 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (155 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 30% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Noam is a Hebrew name meaning pleasantness or tenderness.

It ranked #14 among boys born in Israel in 2024, which puts it among the most-used Jewish boy names anywhere, and it is given to girls there as well. Behind the Name records no US popularity data for it at all, so in America it is effectively unclaimed. Noam Chomsky is the bearer most people can name, and one syllable and a half makes it easy on English tongues once they know the stress falls on the first.

Omri

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Servant
• Pronunciation: AHM-ree

Omri is a Hebrew name most often read as servant, from a root meaning to bind.

The biblical Omri was a 9th-century BC army commander who became king of Israel and founded Samaria as its capital. He was a capable ruler by any political measure, though the Book of Kings has little good to say about him, which is a fair summary of most Israelite kings.

Say it AHM-ree. It is ordinary in Israel and essentially unknown in the United States, so the name arrives with no baggage for an English speaker and a real history for anyone who looks it up.

Ophir

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Uncertain
• Pronunciation: oh-FEER

Ophir is a Hebrew name whose meaning is unknown.

In the Book of Kings, Ophir is the far-off region King Solomon’s fleet sailed to every three years, returning with gold, silver, sandalwood, ivory and peacocks. Nobody has ever pinned down where it was, which has kept it a byword for fabulous wealth for three thousand years.

The name also belongs to a son of Joktan in Genesis, and in modern Israel it is used for both boys and girls. Reputable references decline to assign it a meaning, so be wary of any list that confidently gives it one.

Oz

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Strength
• Pronunciation: OZ
• Popularity: #3,490 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (33 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 75% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Oz is a Jewish boy’s name meaning strength.

It ranked #53 among boys born in Israel in 2024, so it is a genuine Hebrew given name rather than a nickname. Worth knowing that the English Oz is a completely separate word, a short form of Oswald and Osborn, which is why the two never quite line up.

In America the association runs straight to ruby slippers and a yellow brick road. If you want the Hebrew meaning without the detour, Ozni and Ozias give you longer forms that keep the same opening.

Phineas

• Origin: Egyptian, Hebrew
• Meaning: The Nubian
• Pronunciation: FIN-ee-us
• Variations: Phinehas
• Popularity: #1,616 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (105 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 24% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Phineas is a Hebrew name for boys generally traced to Egyptian, meaning the Nubian.

The etymology is genuinely contested. The likeliest source is the Egyptian name Panhsj, the Nubian or the bronze one, though an older tradition reads it as Hebrew for serpent’s mouth. Two men carry it in the Old Testament, the better known being a grandson of Aaron.

It has not appeared in the US top 1000 since 1891, which makes it about as unused as a name this recognizable can be. The namesakes are memorable in their own right: Phineas Gage, the most famous patient in the history of neuroscience, and jazz pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. And if Finn is really the sound you like, this is the long form that gets you there with three thousand years attached.

Rani

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My song
• Pronunciation: RAH-nee
• Popularity: #4,528 among U.S. girls’ names in 2025 (31 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 13% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Rani is a Hebrew name for boys meaning my song.

It comes from the Hebrew ran, to sing, and belongs to the same family as Ron, Ronen and Ronit. It ranked #94 among boys born in Israel in 2024 and is given to girls there too.

Americans will hear it as Ronnie, so plan on spelling it out; the flip side is that nobody will struggle to say it. It is also a name used in India, where Rani carries an entirely different meaning. It works especially well in the middle-name slot, where the Ronnie confusion never comes up.

Raphael

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God has healed
• Pronunciation: RAF-ay-el
• Variations: Rafael, Refael
• Popularity: #394 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (807 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 72% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Raphael is a Hebrew name meaning God has healed.

Raphael is the archangel associated with healing, and the one who does most of the practical work in the Book of Tobit. He is also one of the great Italian painters of the Renaissance, which is the reference most museum-goers reach for first. Rafael ranked #4 among boys born in Israel in 2024, and the Raphael spelling climbed from #483 to #394 in the United States between 2022 and 2025. Rafa and Rafe are the short forms, and the ph spelling reads French while the f spelling reads Spanish.

Reuben

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Behold, a son
• Pronunciation: ROO-ben
• Variations: Ruben, Reuven
• Popularity: #889 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (269 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 25% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Reuben is a Hebrew name for boys meaning behold, a son.

He was Jacob’s firstborn, and Leah named him for the plain fact of his arrival. In the story he is the brother who tries to talk the others out of harming Joseph, which is the closest thing that chapter has to a conscience.

The gap between countries is striking: #883 in the United States in 2025, but #29 in England and Wales the same year. Reuven is the Hebrew spelling and Ruben the Spanish one. Rube and Ben both work, and Ben lets him blend in whenever he wants to.

Ronen

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Song of joy
• Pronunciation: ROH-nen

Ronen is a Hebrew name for boys meaning song of joy.

It comes from ron, song or joy, the same root behind Ron, Roni and Rani. English speakers sometimes take it for the Irish name Ronan, which it is not related to at all, though the confusion does make it easy to say on the first try.

Ronen does not rank in the United States, so your son is unlikely to meet another. Ron and Roni shorten it, and Roni is unisex in Israel.

Samson

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Sun
• Pronunciation: SAM-sun
• Variations: Shimshon, Sampson

Samson is a Hebrew name for boys meaning sun.

The Hebrew form is Shimshon, built on shemesh, sun. Samson is the judge whose strength came from God and left with his hair, and who brought a Philistine temple down on himself at the end. Strength and stubbornness in equal measure.

The Normans spread the name through England in the Middle Ages, helped along by a 6th-century Welsh bishop, Saint Samson, who founded monasteries in Brittany and Normandy. Today it is most widely used in parts of Africa. It gives you the Sam nickname without the crowding around Samuel.

Samuel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: God has heard
• Pronunciation: SAM-yoo-ul
• Variations: Shmuel, Samuele
• Namesakes: Samuel L. Jackson, American actor; Samuel Clemens, who wrote as Mark Twain
• Popularity: #18 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (8,334 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 16% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Samuel is a Hebrew name for boys meaning God has heard.

Hannah named him that because she had asked for a child and been answered. Samuel grew up to anoint both Saul and David, which makes him the man who chose Israel’s first two kings.

It has been in the American top 100 since the 1880s, ranking #18 in 2025, and it is widely used in Black American families as well. The Hebrew form Shmuel ranked #21 in Israel in 2024. Sam, Sammy and the rarer Muel all shorten it, and the namesakes run from Samuel Adams to Samuel L. Jackson.

Saul

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Asked for
• Pronunciation: SAWL
• Variations: Shaul
• Popularity: #557 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (535 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 26% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Saul means asked for in Hebrew.

Saul was Israel’s first king, a tall, capable soldier who defended his people well and then unraveled under the weight of the job. The name reappears in the New Testament as the original name of Paul.

It sat at #557 in the United States in 2025, off its modest peak around #329 fifteen years earlier. That is exactly the territory old-fashioned boy names get revived from, and Saul has the single clean syllable that makes revivals easy. Shaul is the Hebrew spelling.

Seth

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Appointed
• Pronunciation: SETH
• Variations: Shet
• Namesakes: Seth Rogen, Canadian actor; Seth MacFarlane, American writer and producer
• Popularity: #581 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (505 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 67% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Seth is a Hebrew name meaning appointed.

He is the third son of Adam and Eve, born after Abel’s death, and Genesis has Eve say God appointed her another child in his place. That is the name’s whole origin, stated in the text. An unrelated Egyptian god of storms and disorder shares the spelling in English, which is worth knowing if you plan to read up on Egyptian names, but the two have nothing to do with each other. Seth peaked at #63 in 2000 and had fallen to #581 by 2025, so it currently reads as a name of the 1990s rather than a baby name, which is often the last stop before a comeback.

Shalom

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Peace
• Pronunciation: shah-LOHM
• Variations: Sholem
• Popularity: #1,725 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (95 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 50% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Shalom is a Hebrew name meaning peace.

The word does more work in Hebrew than peace does in English. It covers wholeness, completeness and wellbeing as well as the absence of war, which is why it also serves as both hello and goodbye. Naming a child Shalom is closer to naming him Wholeness.

It ranked #66 among boys born in Israel in 2024, so it is a name with real weight that is still in daily use. Sholem is the Yiddish form, carried by the writer Sholem Aleichem, whose stories became Fiddler on the Roof.

Simon

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He has heard
• Pronunciation: SY-mun
• Variations: Shimon, Simeon
• Popularity: #230 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,529 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 10% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Simon is a Hebrew name meaning he has heard.

It was one of the most common Jewish names of the first century, which is why nine different men called Simon turn up in the New Testament, Simon Peter chief among them. The Hebrew form Shimon still ranked #19 in Israel in 2024.

In the United States it moved up from #251 to #230 between 2024 and 2025, and it has spent decades in that comfortable band where a name is familiar but lightly used. Two clean syllables that somehow sound both ancient and completely modern.

Tamir

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Tall
• Pronunciation: tah-MEER

Tamir is a male Hebrew name meaning tall.

It is a common given name and surname in Israel, where it last charted at #97 in 2001, and it is related in sound though not in meaning to Tamar, the palm-tree name. Israeli sport is full of Tamirs, from footballers to basketball players, which has given it an athletic reputation at home.

For American parents the appeal is a clean two-syllable name with the stress on the second, no silent letters and no obvious nickname. That last part suits families who would rather the full name stuck.

Tobias

• Origin: Hebrew, Greek
• Meaning: God is good
• Pronunciation: toh-BY-us
• Variations: Tobiah, Toviyah, Tobit
• Popularity: #283 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,201 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 133% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Tobias is a Hebrew and Greek boy’s name meaning God is good.

Tobias is the Greek form of the Hebrew Tobiah, both from toviyah. The Book of Tobit follows a young Tobias on a journey with the archangel Raphael disguised as a traveling companion, which is one of the more charming stories in the wider biblical library.

It has climbed steadily in the United States, from #418 in 2014 to #283 in 2025, and it is a staple in German-speaking countries. Toby is the nickname that makes the four syllables manageable, and Tobi is the German version.

Uriah

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh is my light
• Pronunciation: yoo-RY-uh
• Variations: Uriyah
• Popularity: #650 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (427 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 19% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Uriah is a Hebrew name meaning Yahweh is my light.

It joins ur, light or flame, to yah, the divine name. The biblical Uriah was a Hittite soldier in King David’s army and Bathsheba’s first husband, and the story that follows is the low point of David’s reign rather than Uriah’s. He is remembered as the loyal one.

The name sat at #648 in the United States in 2025. Uriyah is the fuller Hebrew spelling, and Uri, which ranked #5 among boys born in Israel in 2024, works as a short form that stands perfectly well on its own.

Uriel

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Light of God
• Pronunciation: OOR-ee-el
• Variations: Auriel
• Popularity: #446 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (708 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Steady in the United States, up 7% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Uriel means light of God in Hebrew.

Uriel is the archangel of wisdom and understanding. He is not named in the Hebrew Bible but appears throughout later rabbinic and Christian writing, often as the one who explains what the other angels have shown you.

The name has been climbing quietly and reached #445 in the United States in 2025, its strongest year since it first entered the rankings in the mid-1980s. Uri is the short form used in Israel and stands on its own there, ranking #5 among boys born in 2024.

Uzzi

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: My power
• Pronunciation: OO-zee

Uzzi is a Hebrew name for boys meaning my power.

It is the possessive form of oz, strength, and it belongs to several minor figures in the Old Testament, mostly priests and clan heads in the genealogies of Chronicles. Uzziel and Uzziah are the fuller names built on the same root. The one thing to weigh is the Uzi submachine gun, named for its Israeli designer Uziel Gal, which shares the sound. Whether that is a dealbreaker depends entirely on your circles, and the double z spelling does put some distance between them.

Yair

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He will enlighten
• Pronunciation: yah-EER
• Variations: Jair, Yaïr

Yair is a Hebrew boy name meaning he will enlighten.

It is the Hebrew form of Jair, built on the root or, light, and in the Book of Judges Yair was a descendant of Manasseh who led Israel for twenty-two years. The name is also used in Latin American Spanish, where it has become fairly common.

In Israel it is an everyday name. In the United States it hovers around the bottom edge of the top 1000, so it is recognizable to Hebrew speakers and fresh to everyone else. Say it yah-EER, with the weight at the end.

Yonatan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh has given
• Pronunciation: yoh-nah-TAHN
• Variations: Yehonatan, Jonathan, Yoni
• Popularity: #2,832 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (45 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 19% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Yonatan is a Hebrew name meaning Yahweh has given.

He is the son of King Saul whose loyalty to David outlasted his loyalty to his own father, and he died beside Saul in battle against the Philistines. Few friendships in scripture get as much space as theirs.

Yehonatan is the full Hebrew form and ranked #17 among boys born in Israel in 2024, where Yoni is the standard nickname.

Jonathan is the English version, familiar everywhere. Yonatan splits the difference, recognizable to English speakers and unmistakably Hebrew on the page.

Yosef

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: He will add
• Pronunciation: yoh-SEF
• Variations: Joseph, Yusuf, Yossi
• Popularity: #665 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (413 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 47% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Yosef means he will add in Hebrew.

It comes from yasaf, to add or increase, and Yosef is the eleventh son of Jacob and the first with Rachel, the one sold into Egypt by his brothers who ends up second only to Pharaoh and then forgives them. Joseph is the English form and Yusuf the Arabic one.

Yosef ranked #6 among boys born in Israel in 2024, which makes it one of the most-used Hebrew boy names anywhere. It has a formal, unhurried sound, and Yossi is the affectionate short form Israelis actually use.

Zachary

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Yahweh has remembered
• Pronunciation: ZAK-uh-ree
• Variations: Zachariah, Zechariah, Zecharya
• Popularity: #216 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (1,646 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Falling in the United States, down 58% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Zachary is a strong option among Hebrew boy names, meaning Yahweh has remembered.

It is the modernized form of Zachariah and Zechariah, the prophet whose short book closes out the Hebrew Bible alongside Malachi. Zechariah is also the father of John the Baptist in Luke.

Zachary hit #12 in the United States in 1994 and had fallen to #216 by 2025, which is a steep enough drop that it now sounds like a name from a specific decade. Give it a few more years and that will read as vintage instead. Zach, Zac and Zak are all in circulation, and the longer Zechariah is there if you want more gravity.

Zephan

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Hidden by God
• Pronunciation: ZEF-un

Zephan is a Hebrew name for boys meaning hidden by God.

It is a short form of Zephaniah, Tzfanya in Hebrew, which joins tsafan, to hide, to yah, the divine name. Zephaniah was one of the twelve minor prophets and wrote the book that bears his name.

The short form has never caught on the way Noah, Moses or Abraham did, and that is the argument for it. You get a real Old Testament name with a friendly Z opening, a modern two-syllable shape, and none of the wear that Zachary has picked up.

Zev

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Wolf
• Pronunciation: ZEHV
• Variations: Zeev

Zev is a Hebrew name meaning wolf.

The wolf belongs to the tribe of Benjamin, which Jacob’s blessing in Genesis compares to a wolf for its fierceness, and Zev has been an Ashkenazi favorite ever since. Zeev is the fuller transliteration. Velvel is the Yiddish equivalent, and Jewish families have long paired the two, using the Hebrew name in synagogue and the Yiddish one at home. If you want an unusual Z name with a real biblical thread and only one syllable to teach, this is the pick.

Zion

• Origin: Hebrew
• Meaning: Highest point
• Pronunciation: ZY-un
• Popularity: #142 among U.S. boys’ names in 2025 (2,496 births), per U.S. Social Security Administration data. Rising in the United States, up 78% over the last 10 years of births against the 10 years before them.

Zion is a Hebrew boy’s name usually read as highest point.

Zion began as the citadel at the center of Jerusalem and grew outward in meaning until it stood for the city, then the Jewish homeland, then heaven itself. In Rastafari belief it names the promised land as well, which is how it reached reggae and, from there, a much wider audience.

Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley named their son Zion in 1997, and the name has been climbing in America ever since, reaching #142 for boys in 2025. It is short, it is spelled the way it sounds, and it carries about as much meaning per letter as any name here.