Izrael
Just 71 men in Poland carry it, and none were born last year, so most Poles have never met one. Its Hebrew root means "god contends".
Izrael Pronunciation
Izrael is pronounced eez-RAH-el (/izˈraɛl/).
What Izrael means
Where Izrael comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Izrael reaches back to the Hebrew Yisra'el. The name splits into a verb of striving and the word for God, and the short meaning handed down is "god contends." Its source is the book of Genesis, where Jacob wrestles a stranger until dawn and is renamed Israel. He limps away with a new name.
The name became the name of a people and a land, and it stayed firmly Jewish for most of its long life. In Poland it turns up in Jewish communities before the war, on the rolls of towns from Lublin to Białystok. Among Catholic Poles it was rare, read as a marker of a neighbour's faith. It has no diminutives and no variants, so it stands on its own.
The Polish gloss, walczący z bogiem, keeps the struggle instead of softening it. To carry Izrael is to carry that night-long grip by the river. On a school register today the name would stand out, and its meaning, "god contends," sits right there in the roll.
How many people are named Izrael
1 in 300651 men in Poland is named Izrael. 71 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4272 among male names.
Izrael as a middle name
Izrael is a first name for 71 men in Poland and a middle name for another 20, a 78/22 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1995th, between Issa (20) and Jared (20).
-
#1993 Irosław20
-
#1994 Issa20
-
#1995 Izrael20
-
#1996 Jared20
-
#1997 Joakim20