Skip to content
Shem Tov · Hebrew names

Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: steady

YisraelIn Hebrew: ישראל · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel

With vowel points: יִשְׂרָאֵלRomanization: yisra'él

Yisrael (Hebrew: ישראל) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 41,926 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 1,016 boys and ranked #15. Its peak year was 2023, with 1,048 babies.

People in Israel
41,926
born 1949–2024
Babies in 2024
1,016
rank #15
Peak year
2023
1,048 babies
USA, 2025
64
rank #2,207

Writing and saying Yisrael

In Hebrew letters the name is ישראל, read right to left. Yisrael 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 "yisra'él" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).

Meaning and origin

  • Israel (the alternative name of Jacob)
  • the children of Israel, the Jewish people
  • a male given name, Yisrael, equivalent to English Israel
The name given to Jacob in the Bible (Genesis 32:29), said to be from יִשְׂרֶה אֵל (yisré 'él), after which his descendants came to be known as Israelites and their land as the "kingdom/land of Israel". See Israel for more.

Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.

Yisrael 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).

Yisrael: rate per 10,000, 1950–2025

per 10,000 babies of the same sex

Yisrael in English-speaking countries

Yisrael in each official list: latest year, count, rank and peak
Country / regionYearBabiesRankPeak
United States202564#2,2072024 (83)

Counts for boys. The Hebrew page for Yisrael has every year and the other spellings.

Related Israeli names

Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.

Questions about Yisrael

How do you write Yisrael in Hebrew?

Yisrael is written ישראל in Hebrew (with vowel points: יִשְׂרָאֵל). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "yisra'él".

How many people in Israel are named Yisrael?

41,926 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name ישראל: 15 women and 41,911 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 Yisrael a boy's or a girl's name?

In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named ישראל are men.

What does the name Yisrael mean?

English Wiktionary describes it as: "Israel (the alternative name of Jacob)" Etymology: The name given to Jacob in the Bible (Genesis 32:29), said to be from יִשְׂרֶה אֵל (yisré 'él), after which his descendants came to be known as Israelites and their land as the "kingdom/land of Israel". See Israel for more.

Is Yisrael used outside Israel?

The name Yisrael appears in the official baby name lists of English-speaking countries. In the United States 64 boys were given it in 2025 (#2,207), per the Social Security Administration.

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

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.