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Israel (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל, Modern: Yīsraʾel, Tiberian: Yīsrāʾēl) is a Hebrew-language masculine given name. According to the Book of Genesis, the name was bestowed upon Jacob after the incident in which he wrestled with the angel (Genesis 32:28 and 35:10). The given name is already attested in Eblaite (𒅖𒊏𒅋 Išrail) and Ugaritic (𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍 Yšrʾil).^[4] Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of the Book of Genesis etymologizes the name with the root śarah (שָׂרָה‎‎, "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over"):^[5] שָׂרִיתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִים‎ (KJV: "a prince hast thou power with God"), but modern suggestions read the el as the subject, for a translation of "El rules/judges/struggles" or "El fights/struggles" The Jewish Study Bible of Oxford University Press says on page 68 "The scientific etymology of Israel is uncertain, a good guess being '[The God] El rules.'"^[6] implying God through the word for the supreme deity of the Canaanite religion.

Referring to a foreign people, the name appears on the Merneptah Stele (Egyptian: 𓇌𓊃𓏤𓏤𓂋𓇋𓄿𓂋𓏤 Ysrỉꜣr), probably referring to the Israelites.

In Jewish texts during the Second Temple period and beyond, as well as in Christian Greco-Egyptian texts, Israel was understood to mean "a man seeing God": from ʾyš (man) rʾh (to see) ʾel (God).^[7]

Per the Bible, Jacob's descendants (the Twelve Tribes of Israel) formed a national ethos and collectively established the Kingdom of Israel, whence came the name of the modern-day State of Israel.

Given name

• Jacob (later named Israel; see also Jacob in Islam), biblical patriarch
• Israel (Bishop of Caucasian Albania), 7th century CE
• Israel (Nestorian patriarch), Patriarch of the Church of the East in 961
• Israel Abanikanda (born 2002), American football player
• Israel Adesanya (born 1989), Nigerian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and boxer.
• Israel Alter (1901–1979), Jewish composer and last chief cantor in Hanover, Germany
• Israel Asper (1932–2003), Canadian media magnate
• Israel of Axum, Emperor of Ethiopia in the 6th century CE
• Israel Baker (1919–2011), American violinist and concertmaster
• Israel Baline (1888–1989), the birth name of American composer Irving Berlin
• Yisroel Belsky (1938–2016), American rosh yeshiva and posek
• Israel Bissell (1752–1823), American post rider and colonial militia officer
• Israel Broussard (born 1994), American actor
• Yisrael Campbell, American-born Israeli comedian
• Israel Cruz (born 1983), Australian singer
• Israel Dagg (born 1988), New Zealand rugby player
• Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), Jewish mystical rabbi
• Israel Elimelech (born 1960), Israeli basketball player
• Israel Englander (born 1948), American billionaire hedge fund manager
• Israel Epstein (1915–2005), Polish-born Chinese journalist
• Israel Lewis Feinberg (1872–1941), American physician and coroner
• Israel Finkelstein (born 1949), Israeli archaeologist
• Israel Folau (born 1989), Australian rugby player
• Yisrael Friedman of Ruzhin (1796–1850), Hasidic rebbe
• Israel García (footballer, born 1999), Mexican footballer
• Israel Gelfand (1913–2009), Russian mathematician
• Israel Gohberg (1928–2009), Moldovan-Soviet and Israeli mathematician
• Israil Gurung, Indian footballer
• Israel Gigato (born 1987), Spanish football player
• Israel the Grammarian, 10th-century European scholar
• Israel Hands, 18th-century pirate
• Israel Halperin, (1911–2007), Canadian mathematician and social activist
• Israel Nathan Herstein (1923–1988), Polish-Canadian-American mathematician
• Yisroel Hopstein (1737–1814), Maggid of Kozhnitz
• Israel Houghton (born 1971), American singer and Christian worship leader
• Israel Idonije (born 1980), Nigeria-born Canadian player of American football
• Israel Jacob (1729–1803), Prussian banker and philanthropist
• Israel Jacobs (1726–c. 1796), British-American colonial legislator
• Israel Jacobson (1768–1828), German philanthropist and communal organiser
• Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838–1933), rabbi and posek known as the Chofetz Chaim
• Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (1959–1997), Hawaiian singer and spiritual leader
• Yisrael Mendel Kaplan (1913–1985), teacher at Chicago's Hebrew Theological College
• Israel Katz (born 1955), Israeli politician
• Yisrael Katz (1927–2010), Israeli scholar and civil servant
• Israel Keyes (1978–2012), American serial killer, rapist, bank robber, burglar, and arsonist
• Israel Kirzner (born 1930), American economist
• Israel Jacob Kligler (1888–1944), Austro-Hungarian microbiologist, professor, and Zionist
• Israel of Krems, 14th-/15th-century Austrian rabbi
• Yisrael Kristal (1903–2017), Polish-Israeli supercentenarian
• Israel "Izzy" Lang, American football running back
• Yisrael Meir Lau (born 1937), former Chief Rabbi of Israel
• Israel Levitan (1912–1982), American sculptor and painter
• Israel Lewy (1841–1917), German scholar of Judaic texts
• Israel Lovy (1773–1832), European ḥazzan and composer
• Israel Lyons (1739–1775), English mathematician and botanist
• Israel Machado (born 1960), Brazilian basketball player
• Mohammad Israil Mansuri, Indian politician
• Israel D. Maulsby (1781–1839), American politician from Maryland
• Israel Mireles (born c.1983), Mexican convicted murderer
• Israel Mukuamu (born 1999), American football player
• Israel Narvaez, American gang founder and author
• Israel Ochoa (born 1964), Colombian cyclist
• Yisroel Ber Odesser (1888–1994), Breslov rabbi
• Israel Ori (1658–1711), Armenian diplomat
• Israel Pellew (1758–1832), British admiral
• Israel Pickens (1780–1827), American lawyer and politician
• Israel Pilot, undergarment inventor
• Israel Pliner (1896–1939), Soviet secret police functionary
• Yisroel Avrohom Portugal (1923–2019), Skulener Rebbe
• Israel Putnam (1718–1790), American general
• Israel Raybon (born 1973), American football player
• Israel Regardie (1907–1985), British occultist
• Israel B. Richardson (1815–1862), American general
• Israel Rivera, American soldier witness to Abu Grahib conditions
• Israel Ruiz Jr. (born 1943), New York politician
• Ysrael Seinuk (1931–2010), Cuban structural engineer
• Israel Shahak (1933–2001), Israeli author
• Israel Shamir (born 1947), Swedish antisemitic writer
• Israel Sheinfeld (born 1976), Israeli basketball player
• Israel Tal (1924–2010), an Israeli general and tank developer
• Israel Vázquez (born 1977), Mexican boxer
• Israel Wachser (1892–1919), Russian writer
• Israel Wamiau (born 1994), Indonesian footballer
• Yisroel Dovid Weiss (born 1956), Neturei Karta activist
• Israel Zamosz (c.1700–1772) Polish-Lithuanian Talmudist, mathematician and poet
• Israel Joseph Zevin (1872–1926), Belarusian-American humorist
• Israel Zilber (1933 – after 1980), Latvian-Soviet chess player
• Ysrael Zúñiga (born 1976), Peruvian footballer

Surname

• Al Israel (1936-2011), American actor
• Edward Israel (1859–1884), American astronomer and polar explorer
• Franco Israel (born 2000), Uruguayan footballer
• Gerli Israel (born 1995), Estonian footballer
• Guni Israeli (born 1984), Israeli basketball player
• Harry Frederick Israel, later known as Harry Frederick Harlow (1905-1981), an American psychologist
• Jonathan Israel (born 1946), British historian
• Lee Israel (1939–2014), American author known for committing literary forgery
• Léon Israel (1906-1944), French doctor, resistance fighter, and Jew executed by the French collaborationist Milice.
• Märt Israel (born 1983), Estonian discus thrower
• Martha Israel (1905–c. 1967), German politician
• Melvin Israel, later known as Mel Allen (1913–1996), American sportscaster
• Menasseh Ben Israel (1604–1657), Portuguese rabbi and scholar
• Rinus Israël (born 1942), Dutch football player and manager
• Robert Decatur Israel (1826-1908), San Diego pioneer, keeper of the Old Point Loma lighthouse
• Samuel Israel III (born 1959), American convicted felon and former hedge fund manager
• Scott Israel (born 1956/57), American Police Chief of Opa-locka, former Sheriff of Broward County
• Steve Israel (born 1958), American politician
• Steve Israel (American football) (born 1969), American football player
• Syed Shah Israil, 16th-century writer of Bengal
• Wilfrid Israel (1899–1943), Anglo-German businessman and philanthropist
• Yuri Izrael (1930–2014), Russian scientist and vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

References