Shem Tov Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady
MosheIn Hebrew: משה · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel
With vowel points: מֹשֶׁהRomanization: moshé
Moshe (Hebrew: משה) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 78,774 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In 2024 it was given to 1,196 boys and ranked #10. Its peak year was 1950, with 1,647 babies.
- People in Israel
- 78,774
- born 1949–2024
- Babies in 2024
- 1,196
- rank #10
- Peak year
- 1950
- 1,647 babies
- USA, 2025
- 728
- rank #435
Writing and saying Moshe
In Hebrew letters the name is משה, read right to left. Moshe is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "moshé" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).
Meaning and origin
- a male given name, Moshe and Moishe, equivalent to English Moses
- Moses (the pharaonic patriarch who led the enslaved Hebrews out of Egypt, the brother of Aaron and Miriam described in the Book of Exodus and the Quran)
According to the etymology found in Exodus 2:10, semantically equivalent to Hebrew מָשׁוּי (mashúy, “drawn out [of water]”), since Moses was found in a floating basket on the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter. Other hypotheses suggests origin from Egyptian mw (“water”), with the same idea behind the origin of the name, or Egyptian msj (“birthe”). These are considered tenuous, but historically plausible, since it is more…
Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.
Moshe by year: Israel and abroad
How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).
per 10,000 babies of the same sex
Moshe in English-speaking countries
| Country / region | Year | Babies | Rank | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 2025 | 728 | #435 | 2025 (728) |
| United Kingdom | 2025 | 52 | #745 | 2025 (52) |
| England and Wales | 2025 | 52 | #688 | 2025 (52) |
| Quebec | 2025 | 22 | #238 | 2022 (23) |
Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Moshe has every year and the other spellings.
Related Israeli names
Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.
Questions about Moshe
How do you write Moshe in Hebrew?
Moshe is written משה in Hebrew (with vowel points: מֹשֶׁה). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "moshé".
How many people in Israel are named Moshe?
78,774 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name משה: 36 women and 78,738 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.
Is Moshe a boy's or a girl's name?
In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named משה are men.
What does the name Moshe mean?
English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, Moshe and Moishe, equivalent to English Moses" Etymology: According to the etymology found in Exodus 2:10, semantically equivalent to Hebrew מָשׁוּי (mashúy, “drawn out [of water]”), since Moses was found in a floating basket on the Nile by Pharaoh's daughter. Other hypotheses suggests origin from Egyptian mw (“water”), with the same idea behind the origin of the name, or Egyptian msj (“birthe”). These are considered tenuous, but historically plausible, since it is more…
Is Moshe used outside Israel?
The name Moshe appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 728 boys were given it in 2025 (#435), per the Social Security Administration. In the UK 52 in 2025 (ONS, NRS and NISRA combined).
Sources
Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.
Abroad
- United States: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA)
Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications - National Data
Years 1880–2025 · updated 2026-04-13 · licence: Public domain (U.S. Government work) · names given to fewer than 5 babies a year are not published - England and Wales: Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Baby names in England and Wales: from 1996
Years 1996–2025 · updated 2026-07 · licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 · names given to fewer than 3 babies a year are not published - Alberta: Alberta Vital Statistics
Frequency and ranking of baby names by year and gender
Years 1980–2025 · updated 2026-08-11 · licence: Open Government Licence - Alberta - Quebec: Retraite Québec
Banque de prénoms (filles, garçons)
Years 1980–2025 · updated 2026-06-18 · licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) · names given to fewer than 5 babies a year are not published
Counts are copied as published. We only merged accented spellings (Zoë = Zoe) and computed ranks and rates. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia and the Open Government Licence – Alberta.