# Israel (name)

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).$^{:195}$ Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of the Book of Genesis etymologizes the name with the verb śarah (שָׂרָה‎‎, "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over"): שָׂרִיתָ עִם־אֱלֹהִים‎ (KJV: "a prince hast thou power with God") Modern scholars read the el as the subject, for a translation of "El (Mighty One) persists/rules/shines forth/contends," or "El fights/struggles", and less often, readings with the adjective "just, right", "El (God) heals", "El judges" or "May El judge".
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).
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 Abrahams (1858-1925), British scholar and author
* Israel Adesanya (born 1989), New Zealand professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer, and boxer.
* Israel Olatunde (born 2002), Irish sprinter
* 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 Bascón (born 1987), Spanish football player
* Israel Beilin (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 Charny (1931-2024), Israeli psychologist and genocide scholar
* Israel Cruz (born 1983), Australian singer
* Israel Dagg (born 1988), New Zealand rugby player
* Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), mystic and founder of Hasidic Judaism
* 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) (born 1999), Mexican footballer
* Yisrael Galili (Hebrew: ישראל גלילי, born Yisrael Balashnikov 1923–1995), Israeli weapons designer.
* Israel Gelfand (1913–2009), Russian mathematician
* Israel Gohberg (1928–2009), Moldovan-Soviet and Israeli mathematician
* Israel Gollancz (1863–1930), British professor of English literature
* Israil Gurung (born 1989), Indian footballer
* Israel the Grammarian (895-969), 10th-century European scholar
* Israel Hands (1701-1724?), 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 Huaytari Martínez (born 1985), Bolivian politician
* 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 (Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל כַּ״ץ; born 1955), Israeli Minister of Defence
* 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 (1942-2008), 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 Lipski (1865–1887), British convicted murderer
* Israel Lovy (1773–1832), European ḥazzan and composer
* Israel Lyons (1739–1775), English mathematician and botanist
* Israel Machado (born 1960), Brazilian basketball player
* Israel Madaye (born 1988), Chadian archer
* 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 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 Ghraib conditions
* Israel Ruiz Jr. (born 1943), New York politician
* Israel Schwartz, Polish or Hungarian witness to an assault
* 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
* Yisrael Shomer (born 1977), Israeli officer in the IDF with the rank of lieutenant colonel
* Israel Sieff, Baron Sieff (1889–1972), English businessman, life peer, and Zionist
* 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 Zangwill (1864–1926), British author
* 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

## Fictional characters

* Israel Boone, son of title character in TV series Daniel Boone