Ishmael is a boy's name of Hebrew and Biblical origin meaning “God hears.” In 2024 it was given to 119 boys in the United States.
Ishmael belongs to the Biblical & Christian tradition. Its meaning — “God hears” — is the sense carried by its Hebrew and Biblical roots, and it is the meaning we verified against published sources for this page.
In the United States, Ishmael first appears in Social Security records in 1880. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #789 in 1912, and in 2024 119 babies received the name — 6,671 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the Biblical & Christian shelf:
Ishmael means “God hears” in its Hebrew and Biblical roots. We check every meaning against published sources before it appears here.
Ishmael is a boy name. In 2024, 119 babies received the name in the US.
Ishmael comes from the Biblical & Christian tradition.
Ishmael first appears in US records in 1880. Its best-ever ranking was #789 in 1912, and 119 babies were given the name in 2024.
Ishmael is pronounced /ˈɪʃ.meɪ.əl/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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