166 Jewish Baby Names With Meanings

Some unique and rare Jewish baby names are Breindel meaning freedom, Gefen meaning grapevine, Leor or Liora meaning my light, Lotem meaning a bush of golden flowers, Nuri meaning my fire, Perla means pearl, and Velvel means wolf.

Jewish names that have appeared in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament include Jacob meaning ‘he who supplants,’ Noah meaning ‘rest,’ or ‘repose,’ and Elijah meaning ‘my God is Yahweh.’ Some feminine names include Abigail meaning ‘my father is joy,’ Ariel meaning ‘lion of God,’ and Sarah meaning ‘princess,’ ‘lady,’ or ‘noblewoman.’

Abraham or Abram is a name that strongly connects to Jewish culture and history. He is considered the father of the Jewish faith (1). Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is also considered a well-known name in the Jewish culture. Other names that depict strong connections to the Jewish community are Ami meaning ‘my people’ or ‘my nation,’ and Amichai, meaning ‘my people are alive.’

Moriah, a feminine name that means ‘seen by Yahweh’ has connections to Jerusalem. It is also the name of a mountain where Solomon’s Temple is located. Zion, a masculine name, has direct connections to the city since it is a citadel located at the center of Jerusalem. Ophel, a masculine name, is used to describe two cities in the Bible, Jerusalem and Samaria.

Some Jewish baby names connected to the holiday of Shavuot are Lila, which means ‘night,’ alluding its meaning to the ritual of staying up all night to read Jewish texts. Sivan, a feminine name referring to the ninth month of the Jewish calendar when Shavout is celebrated. Jewish baby names that are connected to the Passover include Moses or Moshe, who freed the Isrealites from Egypt, and Bithiah or Batya is the name of the Pharaoh's daughter who saved Moses from the river.

Jewish baby names like Shira, Shir, Liron, Roni, Renana, Eliron, Zemira, and Zimra are all connected with a similar meaning ‘my song’ or ‘song of praise.’ Jewish names like Hyman can be connected to the painter, Hyman Bloom (2). Ibram is another masculine name that was borne by sculptor Ibram Lassaw (3).

Aaron is a name that was borne by many Jewish philosophers like Aaron ben Mordecai of Rödelheim, Aaron Moses ben Mordecai, and Aaron of Neustadt. Abba, a masculine name that means father, was also born by scholars like Abba bar Kahana and Abba Kohen Bardela. Also, Yitzhak is a name connected to Yitzhak Baer, a German-Israeli historian.

Jewish baby names like Asher, Noah, David, Joshua, and Levi can be connected to popular Jewish celebrities like Asher Angel who has appeared in films like Shazam! and on Disney’s Andi Mack, Noah Schnapp who played Will Byers in Stranger Things, Joshua Rush, an actor on Andi Mack, and Ben Levi Ross who appeared in the musical Dear Eva Hansen