What’s the Most Popular Jewish Bible Name?
Which names from the Jewish Bible are most popular? If you were ever wondering, the folks at Kveller have made a convenient map and list to illustrate that, using data on names for infant boys taken from the Social Security Administration.
As their map shows, “Noah” is the runaway favorite, with Flood survivor namesakes topping the list in 32 states including the entire Midwest, West Coast and Florida.
But in other cases, “most popular” varies by state and region. “Elijah” is the first name choice in seven states across the South and Plains. Benjamin is preferred in the interior west, including Wyoming, Montana and Utah.
Meanwhile, the Northeast is the most eclectic. New York and D.C. top out with “Jacob,” New Jersey alone goes with “Michael,” Vermont is by itself in picking “Samuel,” while Massachusetts and New Hampshire select “Benjamin.”
It’s a sort of boring list, considering the options in the Old Testament. It’ll take some enterprising parents to put more unique names on the map. What about some Bible villain namesakes? Korah? Or Lot? Or Abimelech? Or Cain? I guess we’ll have to wait.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
