Israel Family History
Israel Name Meaning
Jewish German Welsh English Haitian and African (mainly Nigeria and Tanzania): from the Hebrew personal name Yisra’el in German and English Israel ‘Fighter of God’. In the Bible this is a byname bestowed on Jacob after he had wrestled with the angel at the ford of Jabbok (Genesis 324–8). In Germany it was used as a personal name in the Middle Ages among Christians too and in Wales and southern England it was used among Nonconformists from the 17th century onward. Jewish: surname adopted by Jews with reference to the ancient Kingdom of Israel destroyed by the Assyrians in 721
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022