Jewish Baby Names

Looking for the perfect Jewish name? Kveller's baby name website has all the information you need. Search by first letter, gender, origin, and meaning. Some sample searches:

Gender: Unisex, Theme: Blessing - Hallel, Jesse, Nes, Shai...
Origin: Modern Hebrew, First Letter: G - Gal, Gefen, Gilad, Gili...
Gender: Female, Origin: Mizrahi - Chiba, Mazal, Mouna, Naimah

This website has been helpful to expectant parents, children selecting a Hebrew name prior to bnai mitzvah, people converting to Judaism, and writers searching for characters' names.

Kveller Baby Name Finder

Explanations of origin categories:

Biblical/Rabbinic Hebrew: Names in the Tanakh, Apocrypha, or ancient rabbinic literature, including Midrash and Talmud
Modern Hebrew: Hebrew-origin names used in modern times, including feminized forms, Modern Hebrew nicknames of biblical characters, and words from Biblical and Rabbinic texts that became names in Modern Hebrew
Biblical English: English or other non-Jewish versions of biblical character names, including ambiguous from spelling
Yiddish: Yiddish names, including Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew names
Mizrahi: Hebrew or Arabic names from Mizrahi communities of all eras, including Hebrew words that were not names in biblical or rabbinic literature
Ladino: Ladino names
Jew-ish: Names of various origins that are coded Jewish or ambiguously Jewish because of similarity in sound or associations

The HUC Jewish Language Project created most of the content for Kveller's Jewish Baby Name Finder, building on Kveller's existing database and incorporating information from many sources:

Behind the Name
Beider, Alexander. 2009. Handbook of Ashkenazic Given Names and Their Variants. Avotaynu.
Benor, Sarah Bunin, and Alicia B. Chandler. 2022. “American Jewish Personal Names: Results from A National Survey.” Los Angeles: HUC-JIR Jewish Language Project.
Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle, and Flavia Hodges. 2006. Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.
Kaganoff, Benzion. 1996. A Dictionary of Jewish Names and their History. Jason Aronson.
Klein, Ernest. 1973-1983. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language. Carta Jerusalem.
Mazal tov
Samra, Myer. 1989. “Naming Patterns Among Jews of Iraqi Origin in Sydney.” Journal of Jewish Sociology 31/1. 25-38.
Sefaria
Sidi, Smadar Shir. 1989. The Complete Book of Hebrew Baby Names. HarperOne.
US Social Security Administration Popular Baby Names

Editor: Sarah Bunin Benor

Primary researchers: Sarah Bunin Benor, Annabel Noar, Jason Greenberg, Alexander Beider, Alicia B. Chandler, Jason Bronowitz, Eden Moyal, Rebecca Einstein Schorr, and the students in Dr. Benor's Jewish Names and Naming class at HUC.

Others who offered consultations with specific names: Aliza Benor, Aaron Demsky, Kristine Garroway, Sarit Kattan-Gribetz.

Still need help? Request a free Jewish name consultation.