Names
Hebrew names and what they mean
88 names with their Hebrew spelling, meaning and origin: 37 for boys, 36 for girls, 15 used for both. Search by meaning rather than by name if you are still deciding, which is how most Israeli parents actually do it.
Names listed
88
37 boys, 36 girls, 15 used for both
Biblical in origin
75
the other 13 came later, mostly modern Israeli
Top boys' name, 2025
Mohammed
all births in Israel; Ariel leads the Jewish sector
Top girls' name, 2025
Avigail
first place on both lists
The list
Search by name, or by what it means
Type light, water, song or tree and see what comes back. Tap any name for its origin, its gematria and a note where there is one worth having.
88 names.
The register
The most common names in Israel right now
Published by the Population and Immigration Authority in January 2026, for babies born in 2025. The country-wide list covers every birth in Israel; the Authority reports the Jewish sector separately, and the two look genuinely different. Only the top three of each Jewish-sector list are published, so only those are shown.
Boys, all of Israel
- 1Mohammed
- 2Yosef
- 3Adam
- 4Ariel
- 5David
- 6Lavie
- 7Rafael
- 8Omer
- 9Eitan
- 10Michael
Boys, Jewish sector (top three)
- 1Ariel
- 2Lavie
- 3David
Girls, all of Israel
- 1Avigail
- 2Miriam
- 3Libi
- 4Tamar
- 5Lia
- 6Sara
- 7Yael
- 8Ella
- 9Ayala
- 10Noa
Girls, Jewish sector (top three)
- 1Avigail
- 2Miriam
- 3Libi
Source: Israel Population and Immigration Authority, published January 2026, for babies born in 2025.
Custom
How Israeli naming actually works
Ashkenazi families traditionally name after a relative who has died, as a way of carrying the name forward. Sephardi and Mizrahi families frequently name after living grandparents, which is why the same names recur every second generation rather than every third. Neither is a rule, and plenty of Israeli families now do neither.
Modern Hebrew names come overwhelmingly from nature and light: dew, wave, lake, oak, dawn, radiance. That is a deliberate legacy of the language revival, which reached for the land and the elements rather than for the shtetl. Biblical names never went away, but they now sit alongside a whole vocabulary of names that did not exist in 1900.
One practical note for anyone making aliyah: your Hebrew name goes on your teudat zehut, and choosing a spelling is a decision you make once. Two spellings of the same name can carry different gematria and different pronunciation cues, so it is worth five minutes rather than five seconds.
By meaning
The same handful of words, over and over
Search the 88 names above by meaning and they fall into clusters. Light, water, growing things, song: the vocabulary the language revival reached for, and the reason a Hebrew name so often turns out to be a noun you can point at.
Light · 7 names
Water · 10 names
Trees and growing things · 12 names
Song and joy · 6 names
Lions · 3 names
Keep going
Next
Four pages that start where this one stops.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a Hebrew name and a Jewish name?+
In practice, none for most people: a Jewish name usually means the Hebrew name used for religious purposes, such as being called to the Torah or on a ketubah. Many Jews outside Israel carry a secular name and a Hebrew name that are unrelated, like Michael and Moshe.
Why are so many Israeli names unisex?+
Modern Hebrew revived and invented names from nature words and abstract nouns, and those carry no grammatical gender attachment in practice. Names like Tal (dew), Shai (gift), Ariel and Gal are given to boys and girls freely, which surprises people used to European naming.
What are the most popular baby names in Israel?+
On the Population and Immigration Authority's list for babies born in 2025, published in January 2026, Mohammed leads the country-wide boys' list, followed by Yosef and Adam. Within the Jewish sector the top three are Ariel, Lavie and David. Avigail leads the girls' list on both counts, followed by Miriam and Libi. The country-wide list covers every birth in Israel, which is why it looks different from the Jewish-sector one.
Why is Lavie suddenly everywhere?+
Lavie means lion. It took first place among Jewish boys in the Authority's September 2025 release, which Israeli reporting linked to Operation Rising Lion, Am Ke'Lavie in Hebrew, and it held second place behind Ariel in the January 2026 release. Israeli naming reliably tracks the national mood: the same effect shows up after every major event.
How do I find my Hebrew name?+
If you were given one at a brit or baby naming, it is on your ketubah or your parents' records and it usually takes the form [name] ben [father] or [name] bat [father]. If you were not given one, choosing one is entirely normal, and many people do it before an aliyah or a bar or bat mitzvah.
What is the gematria of a name?+
Every Hebrew letter is also a number, so every name adds up to a total. It carries no legal or halachic weight, but it is a long-standing tradition to look at it, and some people choose between two spellings on that basis. Each name here shows its total.