Boy · Egyptian, through Hebrew
Moses
Say it: MOH-zez
Meaning
Probably from Egyptian msj 'born of, son', as in Thutmose. Exodus 2:10 links it to Hebrew mashah 'to draw out', a wordplay.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Used by Jewish families throughout history and by Puritans and 19th-century Americans.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 40,376 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1880, about 1 in 995 boys
- 580 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Moshe
| French | Moïse |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Moisés |
| Italian | Mosè |
| Portuguese | Moisés |
| German | Mose |
| Polish | Mojżesz |
| Russian | Moisey |
| Hebrew | Moshe |
Famous bearers
- Moses, leader of the Exodus
- Moses Maimonides, medieval philosopher
- Moses Mendelssohn, German philosopher
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.