Yael (name)

Yael
GenderFemale
Language(s)Hebrew
Origin
Meaningibex, mountain goat
Region of originNear Eastern
Other names
Alternative spellingIael, Iaël, Jael, Jaël, Yaël, Ιαήλ (Greek)

Yael (Hebrew: יָעֵל, pronounced [jaˈʔel]; also spelled Jael) is a given name of Hebrew origin. It is the name of biblical figure Jael, who saved the Israelites by killing Sisera, commander of the Canaanite king Jabin's army, by hammering a tent peg through his temple while asleep in her tent. The word yael means "Nubian ibex" (Capra nubiana), from a verbal phrase meaning "he goes up".

In France, Yael or Yaël has been recorded was a somewhat rare feminine given name given in the 1970s and 1980s; it has since re-surfaced as a masculine given name ranked between 494th and 249th in popularity in France during 2000 to 2021.[1]

People with the given name

Middle name

Pseudonym

  • Jaël (born 1979), stage name of Rahel Krebs, Swiss singer/songwriter
  • Ivanka Trump (born 1981), took the Hebrew name Yael after converting to Judaism

Fictional characters

  • Yael, a woman in ancient Israel who escapes the massacre at Masada, in Alice Hoffman's novel The Dovekeepers (2011)
  • Yael Aronov, in John Sanford's novel Storm Front (2013)
  • Yael "Yaeli" Ashkenazi, in the Netflix Original series When Heroes Fly
  • Yael Baron, in the Netflix Original series Degrassi: Next Class
  • Yael Hoffman, in the TV series Weeds
  • Alice Jael Reasoner, also known as Jael, an assassin in Joanna Russ' novel The Female Man (1975)
  • Yael from "Return to Me" by Lynn Austin

See also

  • Merkaz Yael, a village in Northern Israel, named in 1960 for the biblical figure

References