# Judah (given name)

Judah is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It is the English form of Yehudah (Hebrew: יְהוּדָה‎), the Hebrew name of the biblical figure Judah, founder of the Tribe of Judah and thus, the eponym of the Kingdom of Judah and the Jews.

## Etymology

The Hebrew name for Judah, Yehuda (יהודה), literally "thanksgiving" or "praise," is a variant form of the root Y-D-H (ידה), "to thank" or "to praise." His birth is recorded at Gen. 29:35; upon his birth, Leah exclaims, "This time I will praise the LORD/YHWH," with the Hebrew word for "I will praise," odeh (אודה) sharing the same root as Yehuda. Alternatively, Edward Lipiński connected Hebrew yĕhūdā with Arabic whd / wahda "cleft, ravine".

## Biblical and ancient historical figures

In chronological order:
* Judah (son of Jacob), fourth son of the Biblical patriarch Jacob
* Judah Maccabee or Judas Maccabeus, Jewish priest who led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire (167–160 BCE)
* Judas Iscariot, Hebrew Yehūḏā ʾĪš-Qǝrīyyōṯ, 'Judah, man of Kerioth' (died c. AD 30), one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus
* Judah ha-Nasi, also Judah the Prince or Judah I, Jewish sage and leader (2nd century)
* Judah II, Jewish sage (3rd century)
* Judah III, Jewish sage (3rd and 4th century)
* Judah IV, Talmudic sage (4th century)
* Judah b. Meremar, Babylonian sage (5th century?)

## Saints

* Saint Jude (Thaddeus) the Apostle, one of Twelve,
* Saint Jude, brother of Jesus, one of Seventy-two,
* Saint Justus (Jude) of Jerusalem, third Bishop of Jerusalem,
* Saint Jude Barsabbas, prophet, Church leader,
* Saint Jude, one of Holy Maccabean Martyrs,
* Saint Jude Cyriacus, bishop of Ancona,
* Saint Jude Machabeus, priest and leader,
* Saint Jude, son of Jacob, Old Testmanet patriarch,
* Saint Jude, host of Saint Paul in Damascus,

## People with the given name
### Judah

In alphabetical order:
* Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), politician and lawyer in the United States and Confederate States of America
* Judah Bergman aka "Jack Kid Berg" (1909–1991), English world champion Hall of Fame junior welterweight boxer
* Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1512-1526 – 1609) or Rabbi Loew of Prague, the Maharal, Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic and philosopher
* Judah David Bleich (born 1936), American rabbi and authority on Jewish law and ethics
* Judah Folkman (1933–2008), American cellular biologist, founder of the field of antiangiogenesis
* Judah Friedlander (born 1969), American actor best known from 30 Rock
* Judah Grace (born 2022), American person known for being born on twosday at 2:22 AM.
* Judah Halevi (1075–1141), medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet
* Judah Hertz (born 1948/49), American real estate investor
* Judah Lewis (born 2000 or 2001), American actor
* Judah Leon Magnes (1877–1948), rabbi, first President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
* Judah Nagler (born 1980), singer, guitarist, and songwriter for indie-pop band The Velvet Teen
* "Judah son of Jesus", name on one of the ossuaries in the 1st-century Talpiot Tomb

### Yehuda(h), Yehudi

In alphabetical order of their surname:
* Yehuda Alharizi (mid-12th century – 1225), medieval Spanish rabbi, translator, poet and traveller
* Yehuda Amichai (1924–2000), Israeli poet
* Yehuda Amital (1924–2010), dean of Yeshivat Har Etzion, former Israeli cabinet member
* Yehuda Atedji (born 1961), Israeli Olympic windsurfer
* Yehuda Bauer (1926–2024), Czech-Israeli historian of the Holocaust
* Yehuda Danon (born 1940), Israeli doctor
* Yehuda Gilad (musician), contemporary clarinetist and conductor
* Yehuda Gilad (politician) (born 1955), Israeli rabbi and politician
* Yehudah Glick (born 1965), American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi, activist, and politician
* Yehuda Green (born 1959), Shlomo Carlebach-inspired Hasidic singer, composer, and hazzan
* Yehuda Hayuth (1946-2022), Israeli professor of geography
* Yehudah Jacobs (c. 1940–2020), American rabbi
* Yehuda Krinsky (born 1933), Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi
* Yehuda Kurtzer (born 1977), President of The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America
* Yehuda Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish (1914-2007), Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and impresario
* Yehuda Moraly (born 1948), Israeli theater researcher, playwright, director, actor, and professor
* Yehuda Poliker (born 1950), Israeli singer-songwriter
* Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), world-famous violinist
* Yehuda Tzadka (1910–1991), dean of Porat Yosef Yeshiva, Jerusalem
* Yehuda Wiener-Gafni (born 1930), Israeli Olympic basketball player
* Yehuda Weisenstein (born 1955), Israeli Olympic fencer
* Yehuda Zadok (born 1958), Israeli Olympic runner

## Fictional characters

* Judah Ben-Hur, main character of the 1880 Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and film adaptations
* Judah Mannowdog, character in the TV show Bojack Horseman
* Judah Rosenthal, character in the film Crimes and Misdemeanors played by Martin Landau
* Judah, character in Weeds (TV series) played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan