Ishmael
Featured in baby name books
Ishmael is a Hebrew name meaning “God will hear” or “God listens,” with Ismael and Ismail as Spanish and Arabic forms. In the Bible Ishmael was Abraham’s first son by Hagar, cast into the desert, and is seen as forefather of the Arab peoples and the Prophet Muhammad. Ishmael is also the narrator of Melville’s Moby Dick.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names
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Usage of Ishmael in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Ishmael against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Ishmael is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Ishmael in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 121 boys were named Ishmael, making it the #1466 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 6,794 boys have been named Ishmael, with the most (158) in 2017. It is most common, relative to births, in Florida, New York and Virginia.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Ishmael in other languages
- Ismail Arabic, Icelandic
- Ismael Catalan
- Ismaele Italian
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Towns named Ishmael
There are 3 towns and villages with Ishmael in their name, in 2 countries.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 2🇺🇸 United States 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ishmael | Missouri, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
| Saint Ishmael | Wales, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | – | Map |
| Saint Ishmael’s | Wales, 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Ishmael
There are 2 lakes and reservoirs with Ishmael in their name, in 2 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 1🇺🇸 United States 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Ishmael Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Ishmael Lake | Rhode Island, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Ishmael songs
One song on Wikidata has Ishmael in its title:
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Ishmael
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Ishmael.
Ishmael Beah
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