Ishmael
given name · Latin script
Meaning: As a purely genealogical figure, Ishmael son of Azel holds no specific theological or religious meaning beyond his inclusion in the biblical record, which underscores the importance of lineage and the
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/ˈɪʃmeɪɫ/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Ishmael is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Malawi than in any other country.
- GHGhana≈1 in 3.6K(inferred from the name graph)
- ZASouth Africa≈1 in 4K
- USUnited States1 in 67K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Malawi (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 317 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 1.4K (inferred from the name graph)
≈15,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Malawi, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
As a purely genealogical figure, Ishmael son of Azel holds no specific theological or religious meaning beyond his inclusion in the biblical record, which underscores the importance of lineage and the continuity of the Israelite tribes, particularly the royal line of Saul within Benjamin.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Ishmael counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MW Malawi | #253 | ≈15,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.4K | — | Ishmael | 15 |
| ZA South Africa | #892 | ≈14,000 est. | ≈1 in 4K | — | Ishmael | 43 |
| GH Ghana | #145 | ≈8,200 est. | ≈1 in 3.6K | — | Ishmael | 65 |
| KE Kenya | — | ≈5,400 est. | ≈1 in 9.9K | — | Ishmael | 23 |
| US United States | — | 4,934 | 1 in 67K | 4.9K | Ishmael | 317 |
| NG Nigeria | — | ≈3,900 est. | ≈1 in 56K | — | Ishmael | 34 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Ishmael is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Ishmael, meaning "God hears," has ancient roots and belongs to a descendant of Israel's first king, suggesting a legacy of royalty and divine attentiveness.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Ishmael means "God hears" or "God will hear" from the Hebrew roots 'shama' (to hear) and 'El' (God).
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
A name of Hebrew origin meaning 'God hears', symbolizing divine attention to prayer and suffering.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Ishmael is of Hebrew origin (Yishma'el) and means "God will hear" or "God hears".
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Ishmael (Hebrew: Yishma'el) means 'God will hear' or 'God has hearkened'.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Ishmael Reedb. 1938USAmerican poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, playwright, editor and publisher
- Wadada Leo Smithb. 1941USnot in their usual nameAmerican jazz trumpeter and composer
- Ishmael Toroamab. 1969PGBougainvillean politician
- Ishmael Khaldib. 1971ILIsraeli diplomat
- Ishmael Beahb. 1980SLSierra Leonean writer
- Omarionb. 1984USnot in their usual nameAmerican R&B singer
- Ishmael Millerb. 1987GBEnglish association football player (born 1987)
- Ish Smithb. 1988USnot in their usual nameAmerican basketball player
- Lil Tracyb. 1995USnot in their usual nameAmerican rapper, singer, and songwriter
- Ishmael Baidoob. 1998GHassociation football player
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 59 sources across 33 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 4.9K | #3,953 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 121 | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 21 | #3,953 |
Reference works 4
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Ishmael mean, and where does it come from?
- As a purely genealogical figure, Ishmael son of Azel holds no specific theological or religious meaning beyond his inclusion in the biblical record, which underscores the importance of lineage and the… Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- Is Ishmael a male or female name?
- Ishmael is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Ishmael have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 15 thousand people named Ishmael in Malawi, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled ishmael.
- How do you pronounce Ishmael?
- A machine transcription gives /ˈɪʃmeɪɫ/ (IPA) for English.
- What are other forms of the name Ishmael?
- In the etymology graph, Samuel, Ismail and Ismael are forms of the same name in other languages.
- How common is the name Ishmael?
- In the United States, the national register counted 4,934 people named Ishmael in 2020, about 1 in 67 thousand residents.
- How common is Ishmael compared with other names?
- In Malawi, Ishmael is the 253rd most common given name of 3,102 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Ishmael?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/ishmaelThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Ishmael” — the 253rd most common given name in Malawi. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.