Ismael
From the Hebrew Yishma'el, "god will hear," the name given to Abraham's son when a cry is answered. It reaches Poland through Spanish, where it sounds ordinary, but here it stays rare enough that most Poles have never met one.
Ismael Pronunciation
Ismael is pronounced ees-MAH-el (/isˈmaɛl/).
What Ismael means
Where Ismael comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ismael comes from the Hebrew Yishma'el, built from the verb "to hear" and the word for God. The meaning is direct: god will hear. In the book of Genesis, Ismael is the son of Abraham and Hagar, and the name is given at a moment when a cry is answered.
The form we know in Poland travels through Spanish, where Ismael has long been an ordinary given name. It sits easily on a Spanish class register, and it entered Polish use without acquiring a Polish diminutive of its own.
Herman Melville opens Moby-Dick with three famous words. Call me Ishmael. That English spelling is the same name, the same Hebrew root, the narrator who survives the wreck to tell what happened.
On a Polish form at the urząd, Ismael looks foreign and reads plainly at the same time, its meaning intact: bóg wysłucha.
How many people are named Ismael
1 in 114764 men in Poland is named Ismael. 186 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2326 among male names.
Ismael's popularity over time
2 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1616 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2012.
Where Ismael is most popular
Ismael is most popular in Lubusz, 4252% above the national average (2 boys born 2019–2025).
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Lubusz2 boys born+4252%
Ismael as a middle name
Ismael is a first name for 186 men in Poland and a middle name for another 74, a 72/28 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 835th, between Dirk (74) and Kamal (74).
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#833 Wenancjusz75
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#834 Dirk74
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#835 Ismael74
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#836 Kamal74
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#837 Mariano74