as a First Name
Biblical name, originally the byname (meaning ‘he who strives with God’ in Hebrew) given to Jacob after he had wrestled with an angel: ‘Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed’ (Genesis 32:28). The name was later applied to his descendants, the Children of Israel, and was chosen as the name of the modern Jewish state. The given name was used by the Puritans in the 16th century, but is now once again almost exclusively a Jewish name.
| 879th in the U.S. for 2011 |
Nicknames & variations
Quick facts
- Tens of Thousands
- of people in the U.S have this name
- 41,385
- to be exact (as of February 2011)
- 44,663
- if you include dead people (since the government started keeping track)
- Texas
- has the most people named Israel per capita
- 2007
- marked the height of its popularity
0.23%
99.77%
5%
55+
55+
21%
30-54
30-54
19%
13-29
13-29
55%
0-12
0-12
Top state populations
U.S. Distribution Map
