Meaning of the nameIsmael

Ismael is a masculine name of Hebrew origin, the biblical name Yishmaʿel, which means 'God hears'.

Meaning

“God hears”

Source: Wiktionary: Ismael · Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Ismael · Behind the Name: Ishmael

People (2022): 81,854
Rank in Brazil: #374
Median age: 31 years
2010 Census: 79,413; people

Ismael in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Ismael, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (15,917 people).

470 women 81,384 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Ismael is most common

States with the highest share of people named Ismael in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Acre 0.072%
Piauí 0.069%
Roraima 0.063%
Maranhão 0.061%
Ceará 0.059%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	13,774	0.031%
Minas Gerais	6,519	0.032%
Bahia	6,383	0.045%
Rio Grande do Sul	6,063	0.056%
Ceará	5,186	0.059%
Maranhão	4,160	0.061%
Rio de Janeiro	3,993	0.025%
Paraná	3,734	0.033%
Pernambuco	3,702	0.041%
Pará	3,566	0.044%
Santa Catarina	3,550	0.047%
Goiás	2,972	0.042%
Amazonas	2,265	0.058%
Piauí	2,261	0.069%
Paraíba	2,202	0.055%
Mato Grosso	1,540	0.042%
Alagoas	1,481	0.047%
Rio Grande do Norte	1,361	0.041%
Espírito Santo	1,159	0.030%
Distrito Federal	1,114	0.040%
Mato Grosso do Sul	1,013	0.037%
Sergipe	958	0.043%
Tocantins	814	0.054%
Rondônia	781	0.049%
Acre	595	0.072%
Roraima	399	0.063%
Amapá	309	0.042%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Ismael

Ismael comes from Hebrew Yishmaʿel, explained as 'God will hear' by Behind the Name and as 'God hears' or 'God heard' by the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil, which cites José Pedro Machado and Genesis 16:15. Wiktionary gives it as a learned borrowing from Latin Ismael, from Greek Ἰσμαήλ, and as the name of Abraham's eldest son in the Old Testament. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil also records the feminine Ismaela and the spelling variants Ysmael and Ismaell. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 81,854 people named Ismael, with a median age of 31. Proportionally, the name is most common in Acre.

Sources

Wiktionary: Ismael · en.wiktionary.org · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Ismael · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · meaning
Behind the Name: Ishmael · behindthename.com · meaning

Questions about the name Ismael

What does the name Ismael mean?

Ismael means “God hears”, according to Wiktionary and Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil.

How many people are named Ismael in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 81,854 people with the first name Ismael, which ranks it number 374 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is Ismael a boy's or a girl's name?

Ismael is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 470 women and 81,384 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Ismael?

Ismael is a name of Hebrew origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Ismael most common?

Proportionally, in Acre: 0.072% of the state's population is named Ismael (595 people), according to the 2022 Census.

Names that also mean God

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More names of Hebrew origin

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Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Ismael with a source. See the methodology.