Meaning of the nameIsrael

Israel is a male name of Hebrew origin, the name given to Jacob in Genesis, interpreted as 'he who struggles with God'.

Meaning

“he who struggles with God (also interpreted as 'God rules')”

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

People (2022): 101,921
Rank in Brazil: #312
Median age: 30 years
2010 Census: 94,325; people

Israel in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Israel, 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 (19,746 people).

565 women 101,356 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 Israel is most common

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

Acre 0.084%
Ceará 0.074%
Amazonas 0.070%
Roraima 0.069%
Paraíba 0.066%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	19,472	0.044%
Minas Gerais	9,718	0.047%
Bahia	8,854	0.063%
Rio de Janeiro	6,950	0.043%
Ceará	6,472	0.074%
Pernambuco	5,510	0.061%
Paraná	4,584	0.040%
Rio Grande do Sul	4,118	0.038%
Maranhão	4,078	0.060%
Pará	3,965	0.049%
Santa Catarina	3,718	0.049%
Goiás	3,408	0.048%
Amazonas	2,773	0.070%
Paraíba	2,611	0.066%
Distrito Federal	1,849	0.066%
Rio Grande do Norte	1,838	0.056%
Piauí	1,826	0.056%
Espírito Santo	1,695	0.044%
Alagoas	1,581	0.051%
Mato Grosso	1,402	0.038%
Mato Grosso do Sul	1,110	0.040%
Sergipe	1,070	0.048%
Tocantins	869	0.058%
Rondônia	860	0.054%
Acre	696	0.084%
Amapá	457	0.062%
Roraima	437	0.069%

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

About the name Israel

Israel comes from the Hebrew Yisra'el, by way of Greek and Ecclesiastical Latin. In the Bible, it is the name given to Jacob after the struggle with an angel (Genesis 32). Sources vary in their interpretation: Behind the Name gives 'God contends', Wiktionary lists 'struggles with God', 'prevails with God' and 'God rules', and the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil) records 'strong against God'. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 101,921 people named Israel, with a median age of 30. The name is almost always male and, proportionally, most common in Acre.

This is the traditional spelling, the same as the biblical name, and the most recorded in the group. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil lists Izrael, Ysrael and Israell among the spelling variants.

Other spellings of Israel

Spelling	People (2022)
Israel	101,921
Isrrael	1,607

Sources

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

Questions about the name Israel

What does the name Israel mean?

Israel means “he who struggles with God (also interpreted as 'God rules')”, according to Wiktionary and Behind the Name.

How many people are named Israel in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 101,921 people with the first name Israel, which ranks it number 312 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

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

Israel is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 565 women and 101,356 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Israel?

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

In which Brazilian state is Israel most common?

Proportionally, in Acre: 0.084% of the state's population is named Israel (696 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Israel?

Isrrael. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

Names that also mean God

See all

More names of Hebrew origin

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